I remember in one of the reflections in Blackaby's devotional that our relationship with God grows through every hardship and tests of faith that we overcome then our mission will slowly unfold as we grow stronger in faith and our characters have been properly molded to handle what will be entrusted to us.
In spite of knowing what we are tasked to do, opinion of others sometimes make us reluctant and hesitant to obey our calling. We try to drown out the voice and prefer to listen to others who you think is more real, more normal and physically present. But in the end after a circuitous route we go back to where we should have started right from the start because we have to obey the voice of our shepherd calling us back to His fold.
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Belief requires the total surrender of conscious will to the will of the Holy Spirit. It is like being led by something invisible to somewhere you don't have any idea or inclination but going through it with complete submission, without hesitation like a lamb being led to the slaughterhouse but in different circumstances.
Being logical and trying to rationalize everything puts a stop to the will of the Holy Spirit. It cannot move freely with someone who has put up so many barriers in oneself. You have to be free of fear and doubts to enable the Holy Spirit to work freely within you.
Cast away all your fears and just believe. Don't judge your worthiness of being used as an instrument because I alone will choose who I will call to serve Me. Have faith in yourself before others will have faith in you. Your hesitation to do your mission will be sensed by others and they will not believe in your mission too.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Instruments for God's provision
The saying, "When you are down to nothing, God is up to something" and Psalm 23 are mantras that comfort me when situations seem to be hopeless. But then God never leaves His children alone in their time of need. He uses someone to give His provision for our needs.
Yesterday, I experienced again His loving kindness through friends who unknowingly became His instruments. Thank you, Lord!
How many times will I have to experience these unexpected kindness to believe He indeed provides? I think time and again He would have said to me, "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
I missed posting yesterday, so here's the message for May 30, 2011
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Instruments are kindred souls that are asked to help someone in need. Sometimes, you will be used unknowingly to help others. You might not get to know about how you were able to help someone until you are told and then you will recall the circumstance which made you do that strange prompt.
All of you are my angels, but others have closed their hearts to their true calling or have been deceived with another call, the worldly call. They no longer hear My voice but the voice of their ambition and dreams to attain worldly standards. They have drown out My voice with the busyness of their lives. No time to pray, no time to sit and listen. They are always in a rush to beat deadlines, forgetting their most important deadline - the time of meeting with Me.
How do you think will I judge them? Will I be pleased with the wealth they have accumulated while someone was deprived of what was rightfully theirs? Will it give Me much joy that they are high ranking employees and leaders of the world when they have caused tears to flow from stricken people?
No, these won't matter to Me. In the judgement scale these will not bear much weight, unfortunately. What matters most in the final meeting will be the good works that you did to help others find their way to Me. That, is all that counts! Leading others to Me, helping others with their lives to find their purpose and achieve their goals for My kingdom.
You should help each other fulfill your mission, for each one is asked to do something special that nobody else can. Ever wondered why you come together here? Because you are My flock, you recognize the voice of your shepherd, each of you does what is required of you to help each other be the best. Don't wonder if a stranger suddenly comes to you and you feel a strange urge to help. Don't rationalize, just do and obey your prompt.
If you are in Me, you will recognize my action in the situation, you will recognize a kindred soul or a lost soul that was sent to you to uplift or encourage. You will be drawn into situations that you might think most unlikely for you to be in, but don't turn your back from it and see what needs to be done. Listen to My instructions and do it promptly. Never, ever walk away from a situation without asking Me what is there to see and what is there to do.
Don't just be a passive Christian, be proactive and do things that you haven't done yet and you will be handsomely rewarded in heaven. Pray always for enlightenment and guidance.
Yesterday, I experienced again His loving kindness through friends who unknowingly became His instruments. Thank you, Lord!
How many times will I have to experience these unexpected kindness to believe He indeed provides? I think time and again He would have said to me, "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
I missed posting yesterday, so here's the message for May 30, 2011
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Instruments are kindred souls that are asked to help someone in need. Sometimes, you will be used unknowingly to help others. You might not get to know about how you were able to help someone until you are told and then you will recall the circumstance which made you do that strange prompt.
All of you are my angels, but others have closed their hearts to their true calling or have been deceived with another call, the worldly call. They no longer hear My voice but the voice of their ambition and dreams to attain worldly standards. They have drown out My voice with the busyness of their lives. No time to pray, no time to sit and listen. They are always in a rush to beat deadlines, forgetting their most important deadline - the time of meeting with Me.
How do you think will I judge them? Will I be pleased with the wealth they have accumulated while someone was deprived of what was rightfully theirs? Will it give Me much joy that they are high ranking employees and leaders of the world when they have caused tears to flow from stricken people?
No, these won't matter to Me. In the judgement scale these will not bear much weight, unfortunately. What matters most in the final meeting will be the good works that you did to help others find their way to Me. That, is all that counts! Leading others to Me, helping others with their lives to find their purpose and achieve their goals for My kingdom.
You should help each other fulfill your mission, for each one is asked to do something special that nobody else can. Ever wondered why you come together here? Because you are My flock, you recognize the voice of your shepherd, each of you does what is required of you to help each other be the best. Don't wonder if a stranger suddenly comes to you and you feel a strange urge to help. Don't rationalize, just do and obey your prompt.
If you are in Me, you will recognize my action in the situation, you will recognize a kindred soul or a lost soul that was sent to you to uplift or encourage. You will be drawn into situations that you might think most unlikely for you to be in, but don't turn your back from it and see what needs to be done. Listen to My instructions and do it promptly. Never, ever walk away from a situation without asking Me what is there to see and what is there to do.
Don't just be a passive Christian, be proactive and do things that you haven't done yet and you will be handsomely rewarded in heaven. Pray always for enlightenment and guidance.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Magic and spiritual gifts
God's works are different from magic. While one is divine and spontaneous, the other requires practice and skill.
Someone who knows magic can draw followers through his works because people are drawn to someone who can do what they can't do themselves. It is like a siren call that hypnotizes others to believe and follow without really thinking if the person is worth following.
Here's the message for May 29, 2011.
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Magic is swiftness of the hands, the creation of an illusion. It is not My gift, but perfected art.
You should learn to differentiate My gift from human mastery of mind and skills. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to people who have opened their minds and their hearts to Me.
These gifts require special care and extra responsibility. Being the bearer or recipient of My gifts should make you more humble and simple than most because I don't like you to be boastful of something that I entrusted to you.
Do not misuse My gifts for your own gain. Use it wisely to help people who are sick or in need. You will be held accountable for the use of the gifts given to you. Use it well.
Someone who knows magic can draw followers through his works because people are drawn to someone who can do what they can't do themselves. It is like a siren call that hypnotizes others to believe and follow without really thinking if the person is worth following.
Here's the message for May 29, 2011.
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Magic is swiftness of the hands, the creation of an illusion. It is not My gift, but perfected art.
You should learn to differentiate My gift from human mastery of mind and skills. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to people who have opened their minds and their hearts to Me.
These gifts require special care and extra responsibility. Being the bearer or recipient of My gifts should make you more humble and simple than most because I don't like you to be boastful of something that I entrusted to you.
Do not misuse My gifts for your own gain. Use it wisely to help people who are sick or in need. You will be held accountable for the use of the gifts given to you. Use it well.
Soul mate
In times of worry and despair, I long for someone to talk to, someone I can confide in and I searched through the internet for a partner. For two days, I searched through a website for a partner, but, alas I am either too old, not so sexy and beautiful for their dream partners!
Oh well, it was an eye opener and it distracted me from my despondency to know there are so many lonely people out there looking for their soul mates, partners and princess. Now, I can chuckle for that brief period of insanity but for a time I was really bent on seeking someone for myself. The longing to be loved and appreciated after a difficult time at home really makes me wish that I belong to someone who will take care and love me like some very well loved wives.
Maybe, it is not my destiny to be with someone.
Here's the message for May 28, 2011.
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In search of a soul mate, is there really such a thing? Your soul mate is Me, your creator in the Holy Spirit. It is not another person. The world has created their own interpretation of the word, soul mate to sensationalize and romanticize the word.
What makes you complete is My presence in your life. Someone may for a time make you think that they made you feel whole, but sooner or later you will get disappointed and frustrated because ultimately they will fail your expectations.
Remember what was written that no one should put their trust in another for their happiness because time will come that this person will break your heart in one way or another.
Don't be deceived by the world's call, it is deceptive. Learn to listen and recognize My voice alone for I will never lead you astray.
Oh well, it was an eye opener and it distracted me from my despondency to know there are so many lonely people out there looking for their soul mates, partners and princess. Now, I can chuckle for that brief period of insanity but for a time I was really bent on seeking someone for myself. The longing to be loved and appreciated after a difficult time at home really makes me wish that I belong to someone who will take care and love me like some very well loved wives.
Maybe, it is not my destiny to be with someone.
Here's the message for May 28, 2011.
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In search of a soul mate, is there really such a thing? Your soul mate is Me, your creator in the Holy Spirit. It is not another person. The world has created their own interpretation of the word, soul mate to sensationalize and romanticize the word.
What makes you complete is My presence in your life. Someone may for a time make you think that they made you feel whole, but sooner or later you will get disappointed and frustrated because ultimately they will fail your expectations.
Remember what was written that no one should put their trust in another for their happiness because time will come that this person will break your heart in one way or another.
Don't be deceived by the world's call, it is deceptive. Learn to listen and recognize My voice alone for I will never lead you astray.
The Past and the Now
Another series of messages today because I did not feel like sharing God's messages with an angry and anxious heart. The evil one surely knows our weak spot and oh, how it must cause him great glee to see me fail in my assignment and in my struggle to become a better person and a loving and patient daughter. Be aware of your weak spot because it is there where you will be tested and tried in moments when you are most vulnerable. I failed again and succumbed to the resentment in my heart and it made me despondent for days just when I thought I am making progress in controlling myself.
Here's the message for May 27, 2011.
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The past can no longer be undone or can be made up for the lost time. It is past, it is over, the time has passed away. You can no longer do something to the past to make it better.
What is important is the NOW. What are you doing for the present moment?
Yes, you can not be sure of the next moment because you might no longer be there anymore. Obey Me and My instructions immediately for this might be your last moment with Me to do so. Take life moment after moment, just be there with Me take Me along, be in My presence each time as the clock ticks the day away so that if the moment passes and it is time for you to leave this worldly existence you won't have to worry about being ready to face Me.
Today, this moment, I could take you with Me if I want to but you still have your mission to fulfill. I will recall my children back home when it is time for them to go home when they have fulfilled their tasks for Me here on earth. Their moment will come to report what they have accomplished with the moments I've given them.
Remember that time is precious, it can never be regained, so make use of your time wisely. Spend it to give Me glory and honor. Make Me the sole focus of your time doing things with My perspective in mind to spread love throughout the world. Share the love I have for all of you, let all of them know that they have a loving Father, a loving Brother and a loving Guide.
What more can they ask? All they have to do is come to Me, invite Me to be a part of their lives and live and follow the way, My Son, Jesus prepared for all of you. No, it is not easy but if you have faith and love in your hearts, My grace will pour down from above to help you through your path towards Me.
Don't worry My children, I am always ready to help you if you call out for help. I will always be quick to help the voice of despair from My children. I might not be able to personally be there, but, there are angels upon My command who will come to assist you.
Don't close your hearts to preconceived ideas about My help. I don't help you the way you expect it. My ways are different from yours. Learn to discern My help, learn to listen to My voice and how to act on the prompts of the Holy Spirit.
Get to know Me, my children. Spend time with Me in prayer and reading the Gospels daily. Aspire for a living relationship with Me so you will get to know Me and experience My graces for all of you, My children. Come, spend time with Me in prayer.
Here's the message for May 27, 2011.
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The past can no longer be undone or can be made up for the lost time. It is past, it is over, the time has passed away. You can no longer do something to the past to make it better.
What is important is the NOW. What are you doing for the present moment?
Yes, you can not be sure of the next moment because you might no longer be there anymore. Obey Me and My instructions immediately for this might be your last moment with Me to do so. Take life moment after moment, just be there with Me take Me along, be in My presence each time as the clock ticks the day away so that if the moment passes and it is time for you to leave this worldly existence you won't have to worry about being ready to face Me.
Today, this moment, I could take you with Me if I want to but you still have your mission to fulfill. I will recall my children back home when it is time for them to go home when they have fulfilled their tasks for Me here on earth. Their moment will come to report what they have accomplished with the moments I've given them.
Remember that time is precious, it can never be regained, so make use of your time wisely. Spend it to give Me glory and honor. Make Me the sole focus of your time doing things with My perspective in mind to spread love throughout the world. Share the love I have for all of you, let all of them know that they have a loving Father, a loving Brother and a loving Guide.
What more can they ask? All they have to do is come to Me, invite Me to be a part of their lives and live and follow the way, My Son, Jesus prepared for all of you. No, it is not easy but if you have faith and love in your hearts, My grace will pour down from above to help you through your path towards Me.
Don't worry My children, I am always ready to help you if you call out for help. I will always be quick to help the voice of despair from My children. I might not be able to personally be there, but, there are angels upon My command who will come to assist you.
Don't close your hearts to preconceived ideas about My help. I don't help you the way you expect it. My ways are different from yours. Learn to discern My help, learn to listen to My voice and how to act on the prompts of the Holy Spirit.
Get to know Me, my children. Spend time with Me in prayer and reading the Gospels daily. Aspire for a living relationship with Me so you will get to know Me and experience My graces for all of you, My children. Come, spend time with Me in prayer.
Friday, May 27, 2011
When the eyes gradually loses its sight
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Mothers are the light of the homes but when they cease to be the light their daughters will have to be the secondary light. As they grow old and their sight grows dim, so does their perspective become dim and narrow.
Understand how their world has diminished because this is where their insecurities start. Vision or sight is very important to all of you. When one loses their sight, it is as if the world has lost its value too.
There are others who can accept this loss gratefully but there are others who are adversely affected by it. Learn to be patient and understanding. Teach them to keep the faith. Show them more love although they may not appreciate it.
Keep the faith in Me by loving them more.
Mothers are the light of the homes but when they cease to be the light their daughters will have to be the secondary light. As they grow old and their sight grows dim, so does their perspective become dim and narrow.
Understand how their world has diminished because this is where their insecurities start. Vision or sight is very important to all of you. When one loses their sight, it is as if the world has lost its value too.
There are others who can accept this loss gratefully but there are others who are adversely affected by it. Learn to be patient and understanding. Teach them to keep the faith. Show them more love although they may not appreciate it.
Keep the faith in Me by loving them more.
Me or the world?
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What is your joy? To follow Me or have riches here on earth? Distinguish the kind of joy that you want because you cannot serve two masters at the same time.
To follow Me is letting go of worldly ambitions and material wealth but to accumulate riches here on earth sometimes will lead to letting go of Me and follow the world's direction.
Which is more favorable to you? Which of the two weighs heavier in your heart?
What is your joy? To follow Me or have riches here on earth? Distinguish the kind of joy that you want because you cannot serve two masters at the same time.
To follow Me is letting go of worldly ambitions and material wealth but to accumulate riches here on earth sometimes will lead to letting go of Me and follow the world's direction.
Which is more favorable to you? Which of the two weighs heavier in your heart?
Don't lose your cool
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Anger eats the soul and consumes the love in our hearts. Don't feed anger with words, thoughts and actions that will diminish My love in you.
Fan the ember of My love with confession and prayer. Don't let it ever die and turn to hatred and despair. When you feel utter despair at someone's actions that makes you angry, turn to Me and say, "Jesus, Jesus come to me, help me through this phase and let it be."
Saying My name over and over will defeat the enemy working in the person you are angry with. Don't lose your cool and your patience because that is the goal of the evil one.
Focus on Me by calling on My name, through that you will win over the evil one. Take heart that even the saints have to struggle with temptations while they were still on earth.
Anger eats the soul and consumes the love in our hearts. Don't feed anger with words, thoughts and actions that will diminish My love in you.
Fan the ember of My love with confession and prayer. Don't let it ever die and turn to hatred and despair. When you feel utter despair at someone's actions that makes you angry, turn to Me and say, "Jesus, Jesus come to me, help me through this phase and let it be."
Saying My name over and over will defeat the enemy working in the person you are angry with. Don't lose your cool and your patience because that is the goal of the evil one.
Focus on Me by calling on My name, through that you will win over the evil one. Take heart that even the saints have to struggle with temptations while they were still on earth.
Part of another
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Reconciliation after forgiveness should open into a more trusting and stronger relationship. Each one should be open to the changes brought about by the differences that were resolved.
Knowing each other's limitations should bring about respect. Although, for a start this might result in becoming wary with each other, overcoming it should be the first objective.
Open your heart and your mind to the changes that needs to be done and accept willingly your differences.
I have made you different from each other, no one is ever the same. You should complement what one lacks in themselves so that you will integrate as a whole.
No man is an island. What one lacks will be supplemented by another.
Reconciliation after forgiveness should open into a more trusting and stronger relationship. Each one should be open to the changes brought about by the differences that were resolved.
Knowing each other's limitations should bring about respect. Although, for a start this might result in becoming wary with each other, overcoming it should be the first objective.
Open your heart and your mind to the changes that needs to be done and accept willingly your differences.
I have made you different from each other, no one is ever the same. You should complement what one lacks in themselves so that you will integrate as a whole.
No man is an island. What one lacks will be supplemented by another.
Forgiveness
This will be a series again because I failed to post daily for six days and now is the seventh.
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Forgiveness is total absolution of the wrong someone did to you. Don't remind them always of their error because it will just cause friction and enmity.
If you have forgiven someone, then let it be as before, burying the sin for its grievous deed but not forgetting the lesson learned so that you can build a stronger and more lasting relationship.
Every fault, every sin has a lesson to be learned, so keep the lesson and bury the sin into oblivion.
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Forgiveness is total absolution of the wrong someone did to you. Don't remind them always of their error because it will just cause friction and enmity.
If you have forgiven someone, then let it be as before, burying the sin for its grievous deed but not forgetting the lesson learned so that you can build a stronger and more lasting relationship.
Every fault, every sin has a lesson to be learned, so keep the lesson and bury the sin into oblivion.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Good News
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The Good News of My Kingdom that the apostles and all my children should tell everyone is that all of you have forgiveness of sins because of the death of My Son. He saved you all from the fires of hell and the tentacles of the evil one, so all of you need not be afraid of the prince of darkness because he has no real power of you. Those who know the Good News are not afraid of him because they believe that Jesus already saved them from his destruction.
If someone firmly believes that Jesus is his Savior that died for him on the cross, then this unshakable belief will lead him to paths of life that others will dare not venture. With Jesus as their strength and Savior they are emboldened to do great acts and such will be their power that the evil one shrieks and stay far away from them.
Do not be afraid. Place Jesus in front of you as your shield, He will protect you. Use My Words as your guide and the Holy Spirit will lead you to Me. I am waiting my children for your return. How glorious the angels in heaven will be when all of my chosen ones come home to their Father.
Yes, not all of my creatures will come home to Me, those whom I have called beforehand, whose hearts I have stamped with My seal of love will have a longing for Me but others will be led astray not answering to the longing in their hearts, mistaking it for something else. Later, others will get to know Me too through the Holy Spirit's initiative, it is through Him that others who don't have the seal of My love will come to know and love me too.
Come, my children to the home of your Father in heaven.
The Good News of My Kingdom that the apostles and all my children should tell everyone is that all of you have forgiveness of sins because of the death of My Son. He saved you all from the fires of hell and the tentacles of the evil one, so all of you need not be afraid of the prince of darkness because he has no real power of you. Those who know the Good News are not afraid of him because they believe that Jesus already saved them from his destruction.
If someone firmly believes that Jesus is his Savior that died for him on the cross, then this unshakable belief will lead him to paths of life that others will dare not venture. With Jesus as their strength and Savior they are emboldened to do great acts and such will be their power that the evil one shrieks and stay far away from them.
Do not be afraid. Place Jesus in front of you as your shield, He will protect you. Use My Words as your guide and the Holy Spirit will lead you to Me. I am waiting my children for your return. How glorious the angels in heaven will be when all of my chosen ones come home to their Father.
Yes, not all of my creatures will come home to Me, those whom I have called beforehand, whose hearts I have stamped with My seal of love will have a longing for Me but others will be led astray not answering to the longing in their hearts, mistaking it for something else. Later, others will get to know Me too through the Holy Spirit's initiative, it is through Him that others who don't have the seal of My love will come to know and love me too.
Come, my children to the home of your Father in heaven.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Obedience
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Obedience to my instructions everyday is a learning experience, if you just keep in your heart to obey your Master all the time without question because you trust the one who commands you. At first, you will find it hard to obey just like a little child who doesn't want to let go of a cheap toy because you are afraid that you might not have a toy if you give it to your parents, not knowing you will be given a much more expensive toy.
Learn to let go when the time comes to let go because the Lord is ready to replace it with something very new and expensive. Do you see the logic? When you have learned how to use something masterfully, this will be taken away and replaced by something more beautiful, more complicated. Each time a season is over for someone or something, learn to let go with grace because you will be given something more beautiful and worth your while for the season that it will be yours.
Obey my instructions and you will have much more than you expected and experience much more than you have ever dreamed of. Obedience deserves the rightful reward.
Obedience to my instructions everyday is a learning experience, if you just keep in your heart to obey your Master all the time without question because you trust the one who commands you. At first, you will find it hard to obey just like a little child who doesn't want to let go of a cheap toy because you are afraid that you might not have a toy if you give it to your parents, not knowing you will be given a much more expensive toy.
Learn to let go when the time comes to let go because the Lord is ready to replace it with something very new and expensive. Do you see the logic? When you have learned how to use something masterfully, this will be taken away and replaced by something more beautiful, more complicated. Each time a season is over for someone or something, learn to let go with grace because you will be given something more beautiful and worth your while for the season that it will be yours.
Obey my instructions and you will have much more than you expected and experience much more than you have ever dreamed of. Obedience deserves the rightful reward.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Reason for marriage
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Boyfriends or girlfriends that lead to marriage are special partners that are gifts from above. What you make out of the relationship all depends on you. For a start, the heavens allowed your paths to merge so you will get to know each other well enough to make you decide to marry.
What comes after marriage when finally you live together as man and wife under one roof will depend on how much you respect and value each other as a person. Some mistake lust or passion as the penultimate need to bind each other in marriage. Sadly, that is not so, for lust will lose its tickle when finally you have sated your desires.
Desire is a fickle thing that gradually wanes as day drags on to another day and you are continually together with a person who is suddenly becoming a stranger with a new personality unfolding from sun up to sun down. Hygiene to personal eccentricities loses desire's "oomph" for a person.
No, desire should not be the sole reason to bind oneself with someone in matrimony. It must be more than that. It has to be the feeling of total partnership, a linkage necessary to become a better person. Yes, there is such a feeling because you are meant to uphold each other to fulfill your individual roles as sons and daughters of God together as man and wife.
That is the purpose of matrimony, bringing two persons together as a team to work out God's purpose for them. Responsible parenthood is not just about family planning, it is family planting with the goal of rearing future members of the Church as God fearing and responsible Christians, that is responsible parenthood.
Artificial contraception is a puny way of controlling population growth. It is only I who can control how many I would like to populate the world I created. What right do they have to kill the innocent lives in the wombs of their mothers?
Man and woman who engage in the blessed act of creation should in the first place remember always that sex is taking part in God's role as creator and should view the act with awe not wanton satisfaction of their physical desires.
They should not promote artificial contraception, instead, they should intensify value formation among Christians because this is what has been lost through modernization and liberalization. Sad but true, the cost of living has risen but the cause for living has declined. So many don't know or don't care to know why they are here.
Baptized as Christians but they forget their roles or don't know the reason why they are here. They just live for themselves, their goals, their dreams and their stature in society and forget that they are here for a divine purpose.
Boyfriends or girlfriends that lead to marriage are special partners that are gifts from above. What you make out of the relationship all depends on you. For a start, the heavens allowed your paths to merge so you will get to know each other well enough to make you decide to marry.
What comes after marriage when finally you live together as man and wife under one roof will depend on how much you respect and value each other as a person. Some mistake lust or passion as the penultimate need to bind each other in marriage. Sadly, that is not so, for lust will lose its tickle when finally you have sated your desires.
Desire is a fickle thing that gradually wanes as day drags on to another day and you are continually together with a person who is suddenly becoming a stranger with a new personality unfolding from sun up to sun down. Hygiene to personal eccentricities loses desire's "oomph" for a person.
No, desire should not be the sole reason to bind oneself with someone in matrimony. It must be more than that. It has to be the feeling of total partnership, a linkage necessary to become a better person. Yes, there is such a feeling because you are meant to uphold each other to fulfill your individual roles as sons and daughters of God together as man and wife.
That is the purpose of matrimony, bringing two persons together as a team to work out God's purpose for them. Responsible parenthood is not just about family planning, it is family planting with the goal of rearing future members of the Church as God fearing and responsible Christians, that is responsible parenthood.
Artificial contraception is a puny way of controlling population growth. It is only I who can control how many I would like to populate the world I created. What right do they have to kill the innocent lives in the wombs of their mothers?
Man and woman who engage in the blessed act of creation should in the first place remember always that sex is taking part in God's role as creator and should view the act with awe not wanton satisfaction of their physical desires.
They should not promote artificial contraception, instead, they should intensify value formation among Christians because this is what has been lost through modernization and liberalization. Sad but true, the cost of living has risen but the cause for living has declined. So many don't know or don't care to know why they are here.
Baptized as Christians but they forget their roles or don't know the reason why they are here. They just live for themselves, their goals, their dreams and their stature in society and forget that they are here for a divine purpose.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Waiting while praying
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Waiting for something you've been praying for inevitably brings about a change in your perspective of how much you want that thing you are coveting and how much it matters to you if you will have it. The passage of time will either wane your longing for that person or thing or it will increase your fervor.
Either of the result brings about changes in you too, of maturing or bitterness. If you have matured in your attitude, well and good. That is the perfect time for you to have what you've been longing and praying for. If you grew bitter, then it is not the right thing for you to have.
The favors that you are praying for should not bring about bitterness, envy or hatred. You should pray for things that will develop or enhance your personality as a child of God.
Be careful then of what you pray for, if it won't do you any good if it won't be granted to you, how much more if it will be given to you? You see, if you become bitter for not having something or someone, your inner motives must be questionable to bring about such strong negative reactions. But, if it makes you kinder, more patient and more understanding while waiting for your petitions to be granted, your motives are not selfish because you are willing to change for the better to have what you want.
I can see the hearts and read your minds, there is nothing hidden from Me, so I give to those who have sincere and truthful hearts the favors that they pray for because I am certain that they won't change for the worse if they are granted their wishes.
Be careful of what you pray for, it might change you for the worse.
Waiting for something you've been praying for inevitably brings about a change in your perspective of how much you want that thing you are coveting and how much it matters to you if you will have it. The passage of time will either wane your longing for that person or thing or it will increase your fervor.
Either of the result brings about changes in you too, of maturing or bitterness. If you have matured in your attitude, well and good. That is the perfect time for you to have what you've been longing and praying for. If you grew bitter, then it is not the right thing for you to have.
The favors that you are praying for should not bring about bitterness, envy or hatred. You should pray for things that will develop or enhance your personality as a child of God.
Be careful then of what you pray for, if it won't do you any good if it won't be granted to you, how much more if it will be given to you? You see, if you become bitter for not having something or someone, your inner motives must be questionable to bring about such strong negative reactions. But, if it makes you kinder, more patient and more understanding while waiting for your petitions to be granted, your motives are not selfish because you are willing to change for the better to have what you want.
I can see the hearts and read your minds, there is nothing hidden from Me, so I give to those who have sincere and truthful hearts the favors that they pray for because I am certain that they won't change for the worse if they are granted their wishes.
Be careful of what you pray for, it might change you for the worse.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Praying with perseverance
Sometimes when I pray for something for over a month and it isn't granted, I stop praying for it altogether. I would think maybe God doesn't want me to have it. Now, I realize that I don't have the right to set a deadline for God to grant my wish, He will grant it His perfect time. I have dreams that were granted after 3, 5 and the longest is 20 years, actually most of them were silent wishes that I never really prayed for while some were dreams that I thought were not meant for me. Prayer should be consistent, persistent but always letting God do what is best.
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Perseverance and persistence in prayer life are two traits needed in My church. Some of you give up praying because you set a time limit for Me to answer your petitions. Having a time-line for the Almighty is like instructing your servant to finish a task.
I AM not your servant and I see the view from eternity. Whatever I grant to My children affects not only you and your families but everyone. It will have a ripple effect whether you know it or not. From high above the heavens, I can see what these effects will be, so I give grants to prayer requests in their perfect time.
There is a season for everything. Don't be in a hurry because your time is different from My time.
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Perseverance and persistence in prayer life are two traits needed in My church. Some of you give up praying because you set a time limit for Me to answer your petitions. Having a time-line for the Almighty is like instructing your servant to finish a task.
I AM not your servant and I see the view from eternity. Whatever I grant to My children affects not only you and your families but everyone. It will have a ripple effect whether you know it or not. From high above the heavens, I can see what these effects will be, so I give grants to prayer requests in their perfect time.
There is a season for everything. Don't be in a hurry because your time is different from My time.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Surrender
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Surrender yourself to Me, not to the enemy. When everything seems a burden to you, with no answer or solution to your problems in sight, kneel down and pray for help and guidance, and immediately I am with you. It doesn't mean I will take away your worries immediately or provide a miracle to solve your problems.
I will be there to strengthen you, to face your challenge well so that you will come out of it a better person. For challenges are meant to form your character, increase your faith in Me and get to know Me better.
Don't view challenges as your cross, no, they are not. They are obstacle courses for personality and faith development. During these times of trouble and of need, you will also get to know Me better. Hopefully, these times will pull you away from dependence on yourself and in other people. These times are meant to bring you back to Me.
So, don't be afraid to face these challenges with ME. I AM greater than any of them and I AM the creator of all material things, surely I can provide for my children too. Relax, enjoy the ride and stay focus on Me.
Surrender yourself to Me, not to the enemy. When everything seems a burden to you, with no answer or solution to your problems in sight, kneel down and pray for help and guidance, and immediately I am with you. It doesn't mean I will take away your worries immediately or provide a miracle to solve your problems.
I will be there to strengthen you, to face your challenge well so that you will come out of it a better person. For challenges are meant to form your character, increase your faith in Me and get to know Me better.
Don't view challenges as your cross, no, they are not. They are obstacle courses for personality and faith development. During these times of trouble and of need, you will also get to know Me better. Hopefully, these times will pull you away from dependence on yourself and in other people. These times are meant to bring you back to Me.
So, don't be afraid to face these challenges with ME. I AM greater than any of them and I AM the creator of all material things, surely I can provide for my children too. Relax, enjoy the ride and stay focus on Me.
Follow and believe
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Abandonment to Divine Providence is an act of great faith, sublimation of your will to My will. It doesn't mean you don't have to work, you work to obey My assignment for you.
You will find your assignment to be disagreeable to you but just follow My instructions. Later you will find it is really the best option.
In doing your assignment, don't let your human logic modify what was instructed of you. Follow it to the letter, because you will find it as it is. Just follow and believe.
Abandonment to Divine Providence is an act of great faith, sublimation of your will to My will. It doesn't mean you don't have to work, you work to obey My assignment for you.
You will find your assignment to be disagreeable to you but just follow My instructions. Later you will find it is really the best option.
In doing your assignment, don't let your human logic modify what was instructed of you. Follow it to the letter, because you will find it as it is. Just follow and believe.
Get to know the vine
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I am the vine and you are the branches, whoever believes in Me and stays with Me bears fruit beyond their expectation. The fruit that each of you will bear will be different from the others. Each of you will have different roles in My church. Your fruit will make My church universal because each of you will be assigned tasks to bring together My scattered children.
Don't compare yourself with each other because your mission will be different. Some will finish their mission while others will falter but someone will take their place. It is like that in My ministry, no one can stop the real aim of My church, which is to bring back My people to the source of their life.
You can help in My ministry and accomplish your task by getting to know My Word first. Spend time with Me everyday in prayer and reading the Gospels. Make it a habit and soon it will be a part of your life, you will hunger for Me if you can't spend time with Me.
Get to know Me first as a person who loves you and you will find it easier to follow My way. For isn't it not easy to follow the footsteps of someone who has shown love to you? That is what all of you should do, get to know ME as I AM, not of what you know about Me because of what others say. Experience Me for yourself.
I am the vine and you are the branches, whoever believes in Me and stays with Me bears fruit beyond their expectation. The fruit that each of you will bear will be different from the others. Each of you will have different roles in My church. Your fruit will make My church universal because each of you will be assigned tasks to bring together My scattered children.
Don't compare yourself with each other because your mission will be different. Some will finish their mission while others will falter but someone will take their place. It is like that in My ministry, no one can stop the real aim of My church, which is to bring back My people to the source of their life.
You can help in My ministry and accomplish your task by getting to know My Word first. Spend time with Me everyday in prayer and reading the Gospels. Make it a habit and soon it will be a part of your life, you will hunger for Me if you can't spend time with Me.
Get to know Me first as a person who loves you and you will find it easier to follow My way. For isn't it not easy to follow the footsteps of someone who has shown love to you? That is what all of you should do, get to know ME as I AM, not of what you know about Me because of what others say. Experience Me for yourself.
Believe in miracles
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Miracles are the visible manifestation of your thoughts. Your thoughts play an important part in the creation of a miracle. Faith powers your thoughts. If you have faith and truly believe without a single iota of a doubt in what you are thinking, then miracles come true.
Faith is believing in something you can't see. If you continue feeding your faith with thoughts of hope, belief and unshakable faith, then eventually what you keep on thinking will come true. That's the power of your unconscious mind.
A strong faith, a strong belief in the miracle that you would wish to come true will manifest itself in due time. But, if the miracle you are wishing for will bring harm to you or the people around you, it will not be given. Think of things positive, Christlike, those that will be beneficial to humanity and it will be granted to you.
There are so many people who only think for themselves and their families and close friends and associates, they are those who feed on the heart of my children. Grabbing dreams of hope and financial dreams to feed their own dreams. They are unscrupulous businessmen and opportunists. They become wealthy from the sweat and blood of the vulnerable.
I deplore them, a time of reckoning will come for them. For now, let them enjoy because their time of suffering will come and it will be much greater than the sorrow of all those whom they have trampled.
Believe in miracles for they are true, if they will bring good not only to you. Work on your faith, believe in your thoughts. Cultivate and nourish it with good thoughts without planting a seed of doubt in it. For doubt is like a weed who sprouts all over uncontrolled, it will grab your dreams and you will lose it just because of doubt.
Miracles are the visible manifestation of your thoughts. Your thoughts play an important part in the creation of a miracle. Faith powers your thoughts. If you have faith and truly believe without a single iota of a doubt in what you are thinking, then miracles come true.
Faith is believing in something you can't see. If you continue feeding your faith with thoughts of hope, belief and unshakable faith, then eventually what you keep on thinking will come true. That's the power of your unconscious mind.
A strong faith, a strong belief in the miracle that you would wish to come true will manifest itself in due time. But, if the miracle you are wishing for will bring harm to you or the people around you, it will not be given. Think of things positive, Christlike, those that will be beneficial to humanity and it will be granted to you.
There are so many people who only think for themselves and their families and close friends and associates, they are those who feed on the heart of my children. Grabbing dreams of hope and financial dreams to feed their own dreams. They are unscrupulous businessmen and opportunists. They become wealthy from the sweat and blood of the vulnerable.
I deplore them, a time of reckoning will come for them. For now, let them enjoy because their time of suffering will come and it will be much greater than the sorrow of all those whom they have trampled.
Believe in miracles for they are true, if they will bring good not only to you. Work on your faith, believe in your thoughts. Cultivate and nourish it with good thoughts without planting a seed of doubt in it. For doubt is like a weed who sprouts all over uncontrolled, it will grab your dreams and you will lose it just because of doubt.
Family and home
Couldn't access Blogger the past few days, so I am posting the messages for those days under the same date.
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Relations and family are vital for personal interrelationships. It is where you start learning how to react with people in the social world.
Being polite and loving starts with the family. Whatever you see and hear from your elders are the standards you will bring in dealing with other people. It is important that children have good role models in their parents, for if they follow bad examples, they will be perpetrating the bad examples set by their parents.
The house is the mold that shapes up the character of each person. An unhappy and angry home brings unhappiness and anger to a child until they are old enough to realize for themselves if they can that it is not the correct way. Changes will be painful especially if it will have to undergo a difficult trial before realization sinks in.
A happy home that is loving, God fearing always brings a wholesome family to My home.
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Relations and family are vital for personal interrelationships. It is where you start learning how to react with people in the social world.
Being polite and loving starts with the family. Whatever you see and hear from your elders are the standards you will bring in dealing with other people. It is important that children have good role models in their parents, for if they follow bad examples, they will be perpetrating the bad examples set by their parents.
The house is the mold that shapes up the character of each person. An unhappy and angry home brings unhappiness and anger to a child until they are old enough to realize for themselves if they can that it is not the correct way. Changes will be painful especially if it will have to undergo a difficult trial before realization sinks in.
A happy home that is loving, God fearing always brings a wholesome family to My home.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Our mission
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Freedom is not material wealth, credit free existence in this world. To be free is to have the time to freely worship and adore Me. There are so many people in the world who have no freedom to worship Me, they are restricted by family, politics and ideologies to turn to the true Savior.
Your mission is to help these people have true freedom in their lives. Liberate them from the bondage and shackles that keep them from Me. Spread the Good News, explain it to them and be patient for they will not understand you at first. The Holy Spirit will open up their eyes and spirit so they will understand what you are preaching. Don't despair if they turn their backs on you. Persevere, be patient while ministering to them.
It will take time for them to get free of their bondage because so many will be used to their "imprisonment" that they are used to it and would not want an uncertain change. Just like the Israelites in Moses' time they were used to be slaves in Egypt that they resented what Moses was doing for them.
Resistance will be strong but persist to bring people over to My side. One person is important to Me that is converted from total lack of knowledge than the 100's who already knew Me. Be patient with these people for they have despaired so long that they will be suspicious of anyone who might just be bringing false promises to them again.
Freedom is not material wealth, credit free existence in this world. To be free is to have the time to freely worship and adore Me. There are so many people in the world who have no freedom to worship Me, they are restricted by family, politics and ideologies to turn to the true Savior.
Your mission is to help these people have true freedom in their lives. Liberate them from the bondage and shackles that keep them from Me. Spread the Good News, explain it to them and be patient for they will not understand you at first. The Holy Spirit will open up their eyes and spirit so they will understand what you are preaching. Don't despair if they turn their backs on you. Persevere, be patient while ministering to them.
It will take time for them to get free of their bondage because so many will be used to their "imprisonment" that they are used to it and would not want an uncertain change. Just like the Israelites in Moses' time they were used to be slaves in Egypt that they resented what Moses was doing for them.
Resistance will be strong but persist to bring people over to My side. One person is important to Me that is converted from total lack of knowledge than the 100's who already knew Me. Be patient with these people for they have despaired so long that they will be suspicious of anyone who might just be bringing false promises to them again.
Interdependence
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Life is not about choices alone, it is choosing Me over other activities. When you focus on Me and not on yourself, your family, friends, and work you will see what I would like to do through you to the people around you. Focusing on yourself will give you a a warped perspective of the mission I would like you to do on someone.
Being selfless is being keen to My activity in other people's lives. Yes, when I send someone for you to minister, silently ask yourself what is my role in God's activity for this person? Is it to give encouragement? To bolster his deflated ego so that he will be upheld to be able to do God's will? Is it to comfort? You must go beyond yourself to see the needs of others. You can never tell from a person's appearance what they are hiding from the world.
People all wear masks to hide their insecurities. You have to learn to unmask them by gentle probing so you can see the real person and join Me in their salvation. Christlike virtues are concern about people to people interdependence. No man is an island, you all need each other in different ways. Learn to live harmoniously with each other.
Life is not about choices alone, it is choosing Me over other activities. When you focus on Me and not on yourself, your family, friends, and work you will see what I would like to do through you to the people around you. Focusing on yourself will give you a a warped perspective of the mission I would like you to do on someone.
Being selfless is being keen to My activity in other people's lives. Yes, when I send someone for you to minister, silently ask yourself what is my role in God's activity for this person? Is it to give encouragement? To bolster his deflated ego so that he will be upheld to be able to do God's will? Is it to comfort? You must go beyond yourself to see the needs of others. You can never tell from a person's appearance what they are hiding from the world.
People all wear masks to hide their insecurities. You have to learn to unmask them by gentle probing so you can see the real person and join Me in their salvation. Christlike virtues are concern about people to people interdependence. No man is an island, you all need each other in different ways. Learn to live harmoniously with each other.
What do we need?
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The Word of God is the life for my believers. It is through the Bible that they will know the relevance of My words to their lives if only they will read and meditate on it truthfully not haphazardly. Let it eat through your soul, let it nourish you, that is the meaning of "I am the bread of life."
When you make my words the nourishment that your soul needs, your life will be much simpler, more joyful. See, if you nourish your soul with my teachings, you become detached to the material world. You see it as a passing fancy, you don't put much value on it so you don't stress yourself in working to have it.
Material things, ambitions and possessions are devious schemes of the evil one to mislead my children. Attachment to the material world makes it difficult for someone to follow My teaching of simplicity and sharing. They want to possess all of the material trappings of the world to be able to boast that he had succeeded, he had achieved his ambitions and goals and is at par with the glorified ones on earth, the who's who list in business, the wealthiest in the world.
That is the ultimate goal of man to belong to the "glorified" and popular people. To be look up to, to become successful and possess all the signs and symbols of having reached the top. Good, if they didn't leave a trail of broken hearts, broken dreams when they stepped over someone to have their own goal of success. Good thing if they remembered to thank ME, the provider of what they have.
Yes, I provided for them even if they were evil in their ways. I was walking beside them silently mournful that this child of mine is lost in his world of success, earthly that is. I was hoping they would come to recognize Me and acknowledge Me through each success they made. Sadly, they didn't and with each success came heady sensation of being strong and powerful not needing anyone, not even Me. But I am always with my children just in case suddenly they need Me.
And it always happen, but only when they are in the brink of death or in the brink of bankruptcy then, they remember to call on Me. As always, My hand is ready to pick them up, happy at last to be remembered and be of service. Alas! some die without even remembering me, to the end proud of their own achievement, needing nobody including Me to pass over to the next life.
Where will they go? To a place where there is no God, hell is a place without My presence. It may not be the hell that is pictured in your visions but a lonely, desolate place, only you and your ambitions - the echo of your lies will follow you everywhere with no one in sight. That will be your personal hell, you alone forever in your pain, in your loneliness. You want to weep, but you can't cry, the torment and desolation will eat through your bones, convulse your body with sobs of pure grief without the release of tears.
Poor soul to the end of his earthly life, he needed no one not even Me, so his wish is granted.
The Word of God is the life for my believers. It is through the Bible that they will know the relevance of My words to their lives if only they will read and meditate on it truthfully not haphazardly. Let it eat through your soul, let it nourish you, that is the meaning of "I am the bread of life."
When you make my words the nourishment that your soul needs, your life will be much simpler, more joyful. See, if you nourish your soul with my teachings, you become detached to the material world. You see it as a passing fancy, you don't put much value on it so you don't stress yourself in working to have it.
Material things, ambitions and possessions are devious schemes of the evil one to mislead my children. Attachment to the material world makes it difficult for someone to follow My teaching of simplicity and sharing. They want to possess all of the material trappings of the world to be able to boast that he had succeeded, he had achieved his ambitions and goals and is at par with the glorified ones on earth, the who's who list in business, the wealthiest in the world.
That is the ultimate goal of man to belong to the "glorified" and popular people. To be look up to, to become successful and possess all the signs and symbols of having reached the top. Good, if they didn't leave a trail of broken hearts, broken dreams when they stepped over someone to have their own goal of success. Good thing if they remembered to thank ME, the provider of what they have.
Yes, I provided for them even if they were evil in their ways. I was walking beside them silently mournful that this child of mine is lost in his world of success, earthly that is. I was hoping they would come to recognize Me and acknowledge Me through each success they made. Sadly, they didn't and with each success came heady sensation of being strong and powerful not needing anyone, not even Me. But I am always with my children just in case suddenly they need Me.
And it always happen, but only when they are in the brink of death or in the brink of bankruptcy then, they remember to call on Me. As always, My hand is ready to pick them up, happy at last to be remembered and be of service. Alas! some die without even remembering me, to the end proud of their own achievement, needing nobody including Me to pass over to the next life.
Where will they go? To a place where there is no God, hell is a place without My presence. It may not be the hell that is pictured in your visions but a lonely, desolate place, only you and your ambitions - the echo of your lies will follow you everywhere with no one in sight. That will be your personal hell, you alone forever in your pain, in your loneliness. You want to weep, but you can't cry, the torment and desolation will eat through your bones, convulse your body with sobs of pure grief without the release of tears.
Poor soul to the end of his earthly life, he needed no one not even Me, so his wish is granted.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Life
Being informed about issues important to the Catholic faith enables us to make a choice and take a stand on controversial issues like the Reproductive Health bill that is being pushed for legislation by some lawmakers in the Philippines.
In the TV show, The Word Exposed early this morning, it was enlightening for a passive Catholic like me to listen to some of the issues discussed by Bishop Chito Tagle and Fr. Nono Alfonso. The Catholic church, (from what I understood and remembered of the discussion)is against the bill because it will be creating a culture of death, which is the opposite of what the Church is preaching, the culture of life which means taking care of life from womb to tomb. Life begins at conception and ends with natural death, we have no right as stewards of life to nip in the bud it's growth and mechanically severe it's existence if we think it can no longer serve it's function.
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The reproductive health bill that they are proposing to legislate violates the culture of life and loving of my Holy Church. Life is my breath given to you from the time of conception till it voluntarily passes away.
Life is holy and should be treated as such. Sex is not a casual play of human passion and desire, for it is through the union of the man and a woman that the spark of life is given. This sacred activity should not be viewed as an avenue for the satiation of human lust alone because to think so would diminish people to the level of animals.
People were made superior than animals with the mind to choose and reason to discern what is right and what is wrong. A human being is equipped with these mental faculties to enable him to live as a human being should, not to have bestial attitudes. He should uphold the dignity of man with an uprightness befitting the son of God. You are all my children, be holy and sanctify your body to Me because I own it and you are my temple.
To tamper with yourselves is to insult your Creator. For have I not given you what is best for you? Sure, you would like to look more beautiful than the others but have it ever entered your minds that each of you are unique in your own ways? This uniqueness makes you beautiful in your own way. Why do you like to copy the noses, the lips, the eyes of others? Do you like to look all alike? What then would be beautiful in this world if you all look similar?
There should be variety in everything to appreciate what is really true, valuable and beautiful. Don't compare yourself with others for there is reason why you are dissimilar from each other. Uphold yourselves, be proud of your bodies for you are all beautiful in My eyes. You are my own image, Yes, even those who are disfigured physically and mentally are beautiful and not meant to be despised because they are My own.
Would you only worship a beautiful and handsome God? Will you turn away from Me because I am not the handsome face you venerate on your altars? How foolish you are! Open your eyes to the heart of the persons around you, for there you will see true, radiant, vibrant joy that can never be tampered by a cosmetic surgeon's hands. Real beauty radiates from within. Look at those people who reconstructed their faces, look into their eyes, do you see a sparkle there? A glint of pride that doesn't shun the eyes of someone curious trying to decipher what made them look different from the previous meeting.
These women who wanted to feed their insecurities should have come to me for a total make-over. Receiving and acknowledging my presence in their lives will make them look radiant, glowing and happy more than what they would feel after being cosmetically restructured. Human procedures are passing and doesn't give a warranty that everything will be okay. Mine is everlasting beauty of mind, body and spirit.
Physical beauty sags and rots in due time because that is the way it is, from dust you came, to dust you shall return. From womb to tomb, I am with you, from womb to tomb you should give importance and value to the life I gave you. Man should not tamper with what God gave unless, it is to save the life that I gave.
In the TV show, The Word Exposed early this morning, it was enlightening for a passive Catholic like me to listen to some of the issues discussed by Bishop Chito Tagle and Fr. Nono Alfonso. The Catholic church, (from what I understood and remembered of the discussion)is against the bill because it will be creating a culture of death, which is the opposite of what the Church is preaching, the culture of life which means taking care of life from womb to tomb. Life begins at conception and ends with natural death, we have no right as stewards of life to nip in the bud it's growth and mechanically severe it's existence if we think it can no longer serve it's function.
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The reproductive health bill that they are proposing to legislate violates the culture of life and loving of my Holy Church. Life is my breath given to you from the time of conception till it voluntarily passes away.
Life is holy and should be treated as such. Sex is not a casual play of human passion and desire, for it is through the union of the man and a woman that the spark of life is given. This sacred activity should not be viewed as an avenue for the satiation of human lust alone because to think so would diminish people to the level of animals.
People were made superior than animals with the mind to choose and reason to discern what is right and what is wrong. A human being is equipped with these mental faculties to enable him to live as a human being should, not to have bestial attitudes. He should uphold the dignity of man with an uprightness befitting the son of God. You are all my children, be holy and sanctify your body to Me because I own it and you are my temple.
To tamper with yourselves is to insult your Creator. For have I not given you what is best for you? Sure, you would like to look more beautiful than the others but have it ever entered your minds that each of you are unique in your own ways? This uniqueness makes you beautiful in your own way. Why do you like to copy the noses, the lips, the eyes of others? Do you like to look all alike? What then would be beautiful in this world if you all look similar?
There should be variety in everything to appreciate what is really true, valuable and beautiful. Don't compare yourself with others for there is reason why you are dissimilar from each other. Uphold yourselves, be proud of your bodies for you are all beautiful in My eyes. You are my own image, Yes, even those who are disfigured physically and mentally are beautiful and not meant to be despised because they are My own.
Would you only worship a beautiful and handsome God? Will you turn away from Me because I am not the handsome face you venerate on your altars? How foolish you are! Open your eyes to the heart of the persons around you, for there you will see true, radiant, vibrant joy that can never be tampered by a cosmetic surgeon's hands. Real beauty radiates from within. Look at those people who reconstructed their faces, look into their eyes, do you see a sparkle there? A glint of pride that doesn't shun the eyes of someone curious trying to decipher what made them look different from the previous meeting.
These women who wanted to feed their insecurities should have come to me for a total make-over. Receiving and acknowledging my presence in their lives will make them look radiant, glowing and happy more than what they would feel after being cosmetically restructured. Human procedures are passing and doesn't give a warranty that everything will be okay. Mine is everlasting beauty of mind, body and spirit.
Physical beauty sags and rots in due time because that is the way it is, from dust you came, to dust you shall return. From womb to tomb, I am with you, from womb to tomb you should give importance and value to the life I gave you. Man should not tamper with what God gave unless, it is to save the life that I gave.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Failures
Failures can bring us down, but only temporarily. One must get up after each fall to start again knowing Someone up there is looking after us.
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Failures are not the end of your life's projects and dreams, they are lessons to be learned and are the stepping stones to success. Nobody succeeded without failing first. Don't lose heart over small things, the big struggles are yet to come. Come, get up I will carry you for awhile, while you get your emotions back in order.
Be strong, don't lose hope easily. Pause for awhile and think, "what would God want me to know from this?" Pray for enlightenment and guidance so the Holy Spirit will open your eyes, mind, heart and spirit to the possibilities in your predicament because not all of them were meant to stop you. Some of them are opportunities for you to choose from for better gain in knowledge and experience.
Don't ever dismiss a seemingly bad situation because behind it may be the road to success that you are looking and waiting for. Just like a book, don't judge a book by its cover, open it and see what lies beyond.
Don't be afraid to open doors and windows of opportunities, for how can you choose what is best if you don't know what's behind those unopened opportunities? Never be timid because I am right beside you, I will snatch you back if you are going to fall. Be emboldened by my presence, not that you'll grab every opportunity that comes your way but so that you can choose wisely what is the best. Quality counts not quantity. Choose opportunities that will give glory and honor to My name.
Do whatever you choose to do with great passion and enthusiasm, give it your all not just a bland rendition of a supposedly magnificent and delectable dish. Give it your own distinctive flair and stamp it with a dedication for Me. Nothing could be more pleasing to me eyes, receiving the best of the talents I gave you. Through that you will glorify my name.
Failures, don't worry about them. Get up, brush the dust off your knees and walk with me again. We still have a long way to go.
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Failures are not the end of your life's projects and dreams, they are lessons to be learned and are the stepping stones to success. Nobody succeeded without failing first. Don't lose heart over small things, the big struggles are yet to come. Come, get up I will carry you for awhile, while you get your emotions back in order.
Be strong, don't lose hope easily. Pause for awhile and think, "what would God want me to know from this?" Pray for enlightenment and guidance so the Holy Spirit will open your eyes, mind, heart and spirit to the possibilities in your predicament because not all of them were meant to stop you. Some of them are opportunities for you to choose from for better gain in knowledge and experience.
Don't ever dismiss a seemingly bad situation because behind it may be the road to success that you are looking and waiting for. Just like a book, don't judge a book by its cover, open it and see what lies beyond.
Don't be afraid to open doors and windows of opportunities, for how can you choose what is best if you don't know what's behind those unopened opportunities? Never be timid because I am right beside you, I will snatch you back if you are going to fall. Be emboldened by my presence, not that you'll grab every opportunity that comes your way but so that you can choose wisely what is the best. Quality counts not quantity. Choose opportunities that will give glory and honor to My name.
Do whatever you choose to do with great passion and enthusiasm, give it your all not just a bland rendition of a supposedly magnificent and delectable dish. Give it your own distinctive flair and stamp it with a dedication for Me. Nothing could be more pleasing to me eyes, receiving the best of the talents I gave you. Through that you will glorify my name.
Failures, don't worry about them. Get up, brush the dust off your knees and walk with me again. We still have a long way to go.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Conversion
The gospel today is about Peter and the disciples being whipped upon orders of the Sanhedrin council after forbidding them not to talk about Jesus of Nazareth. Instead of scaring the apostles, it further bolstered their enthusiasm to spread the Good News of the risen Lord.
I often wonder what changes took place within this early community of believers as they struggled and fought for their faith. The Holy Spirit must have worked mightily with them to be able to establish the Catholic church and make it as big as it is now.
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Conversion doesn't only mean trying to change a person's religion from a Catholic to Protestant or Baptist or Methodist or vice-versa. Religion is divisive, as you can see the leaders of a religion have their own interpretation of the Bible and its precepts. They broke away from the Catholic church because they were discontented and scandalized by the leaders of My church in the early days. Each have their own good points but, sadly this should not have been so.
If only they spent time to pray and discern what is really My will, My plan then they wouldn't have set out to establish their own plans. But then, I have given my people freedom to choose what is good and what is bad, so I will let them be. In the end there will only be one universal church, where everyone will gather as one flock of the shepherd.
My sheep will no longer respond to different voices, they will recognize the voice of their true shepherd, which is Me. When that day comes, true conversion has taken place on earth and the angels in heaven will break out to shouts of joy and heavenly music will be heard all throughout the universe for such gladness will fill my heart. Rose petals will be showered over the earth, a smell so radiant will fill the earth. Refreshing, soft, heavenly smell replacing the stink of yesteryears.
Wouldn't that be a day to look forward to? Yes, it would be, but, it will happen not in your lifetime yet. There has to be reform in my church, my leaders, my followers. They should set a good example for my people to follow them. Conversion of the soul that was once selfish and full of pride to one of selfless devotion to each other's condition and welfare abandoning pride and prejudice. That is total conversion, that is love, brotherly kindness that reflects my love for all of you.
Conversion is without limits, no boundaries. It cuts across boundaries set up by human ideologies and principles, it recognizes the true spirit that leads them to their heavenly Father. Conversion is coming home at last to ME.
I often wonder what changes took place within this early community of believers as they struggled and fought for their faith. The Holy Spirit must have worked mightily with them to be able to establish the Catholic church and make it as big as it is now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conversion doesn't only mean trying to change a person's religion from a Catholic to Protestant or Baptist or Methodist or vice-versa. Religion is divisive, as you can see the leaders of a religion have their own interpretation of the Bible and its precepts. They broke away from the Catholic church because they were discontented and scandalized by the leaders of My church in the early days. Each have their own good points but, sadly this should not have been so.
If only they spent time to pray and discern what is really My will, My plan then they wouldn't have set out to establish their own plans. But then, I have given my people freedom to choose what is good and what is bad, so I will let them be. In the end there will only be one universal church, where everyone will gather as one flock of the shepherd.
My sheep will no longer respond to different voices, they will recognize the voice of their true shepherd, which is Me. When that day comes, true conversion has taken place on earth and the angels in heaven will break out to shouts of joy and heavenly music will be heard all throughout the universe for such gladness will fill my heart. Rose petals will be showered over the earth, a smell so radiant will fill the earth. Refreshing, soft, heavenly smell replacing the stink of yesteryears.
Wouldn't that be a day to look forward to? Yes, it would be, but, it will happen not in your lifetime yet. There has to be reform in my church, my leaders, my followers. They should set a good example for my people to follow them. Conversion of the soul that was once selfish and full of pride to one of selfless devotion to each other's condition and welfare abandoning pride and prejudice. That is total conversion, that is love, brotherly kindness that reflects my love for all of you.
Conversion is without limits, no boundaries. It cuts across boundaries set up by human ideologies and principles, it recognizes the true spirit that leads them to their heavenly Father. Conversion is coming home at last to ME.
Motivation
Sometimes, things don't happen the way you expect it to and it makes you frustrated for the lost time and effort spent on a project. Instead of moping for lost time, move on and start anew, this time wiser and more careful with your choice.
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Laziness and procrastination are sins. You have to work and make something productive of your time because you will be held accountable for the time you wasted here on earth. Don't keep on aiming for the stars when you can't even lift yourself out of your bed.
Be practical, start with something that is easy, taking one step at a time, gradually you'll be taking in harder tasks. Just have faith that I am always there to guide you through every obstacle that you'll meet. It is part of the strengthening and endurance test.
Don't ever give up on the last minute,finish it to the end even if you think you could have done something more about it. Next time, think about the lesson that you learned. Always make your previous experience a lesson to improve your current assignment. Build on your mistakes so you can finally perfect whatever task you are undertaking.
Learn from others, don't hesitate to ask questions. Don't let ego and pride block your learning process, for it is from those who've been ahead of you in your career that you will learn and pick lessons from what they've experienced. Like in most things, you can't perfect something out of 2 or 3 trials, it is a continuous learning process.
You have to upgrade your knowledge often because technology is swiftly improving. Keep up with the modern times of learning, so you will not impart outdated knowledge. Read, read, and read. Be informed, be aware of what is going on around you.
Life is a matter of choice, you have to be wise with your choices and what can be more wiser than consulting Me with your plans prior to embarking on them impulsively? Pray first for guidance and enlightenment, then I will show you the way to make a good decision.
Don't rely on your limited knowledge and your friends, just rely on Me, for I can see the bigger picture and the hearts and minds of those whom you will be working with. Pray hard and fast. Cleanse yourself from doubts and anxieties, free yourself from the invisible threads of negativism that surrounds you to be able to experience the energy I will send you. Healing and cleansing energy that will free your mind to experience Me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laziness and procrastination are sins. You have to work and make something productive of your time because you will be held accountable for the time you wasted here on earth. Don't keep on aiming for the stars when you can't even lift yourself out of your bed.
Be practical, start with something that is easy, taking one step at a time, gradually you'll be taking in harder tasks. Just have faith that I am always there to guide you through every obstacle that you'll meet. It is part of the strengthening and endurance test.
Don't ever give up on the last minute,finish it to the end even if you think you could have done something more about it. Next time, think about the lesson that you learned. Always make your previous experience a lesson to improve your current assignment. Build on your mistakes so you can finally perfect whatever task you are undertaking.
Learn from others, don't hesitate to ask questions. Don't let ego and pride block your learning process, for it is from those who've been ahead of you in your career that you will learn and pick lessons from what they've experienced. Like in most things, you can't perfect something out of 2 or 3 trials, it is a continuous learning process.
You have to upgrade your knowledge often because technology is swiftly improving. Keep up with the modern times of learning, so you will not impart outdated knowledge. Read, read, and read. Be informed, be aware of what is going on around you.
Life is a matter of choice, you have to be wise with your choices and what can be more wiser than consulting Me with your plans prior to embarking on them impulsively? Pray first for guidance and enlightenment, then I will show you the way to make a good decision.
Don't rely on your limited knowledge and your friends, just rely on Me, for I can see the bigger picture and the hearts and minds of those whom you will be working with. Pray hard and fast. Cleanse yourself from doubts and anxieties, free yourself from the invisible threads of negativism that surrounds you to be able to experience the energy I will send you. Healing and cleansing energy that will free your mind to experience Me.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Shades of truth but not the whole truth
Truth which is interpreted to serve the purpose of the interpreter ceases to be true. Like white lies, they serve to cover up something either to protect someone or to make the truth less painful.
In a Bible sharing with our househelp who belongs to a Christian group, she said that Jesus had other brothers because Mary gave birth to other children. When we explained that the term "brothers" in Jesus' time meant close relatives she insisted in the truth that their religious leaders told them.
To debate on something basic to our Catholic faith with someone who clearly just agrees and swallows the teaching of their religion without verifying its veracity seem futile and might lead to dissension which is not our aim as a Catholic. Our purpose is to share the truth of the Bible for what it was and what it still is.
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Salvation of the world is my primary concern because my people have been led away from me by the evil one with lures of riches, new ideologies and precepts that confuse my flock who are without their Good Shepherd.
Yes, it is true that there are so many evil things that still exist because they serve for a purpose in My divine plan, but, in the end it will be exposed and my people will come to realize they were not in the true light. For sometimes, there are some teachings that serve as light for a certain group. They grow, they prosper believing they have the true religion that would save the world, only to discover that their leaders did not really know the truth.
Shades of truth is different from the whole truth, that is so different! Many are deceived with these half truths, one of them is the virginity of Mary, My chosen spouse. They seek to destroy her image and reputation because they cannot conceive or rather they refuse to believe that I, God, would choose a human spouse to have a Son. It is repugnant for them and inconceivable because they want their Savior to be purely God, not a man, a carpenter from Galilee. Who would like to believe that a carpenter from a poor town of Galilee can be better than the teachers of the Law?
Pride again comes into the picture. Pride blocks the heart from recognizing the voice that acknowledges the Savior.
In a Bible sharing with our househelp who belongs to a Christian group, she said that Jesus had other brothers because Mary gave birth to other children. When we explained that the term "brothers" in Jesus' time meant close relatives she insisted in the truth that their religious leaders told them.
To debate on something basic to our Catholic faith with someone who clearly just agrees and swallows the teaching of their religion without verifying its veracity seem futile and might lead to dissension which is not our aim as a Catholic. Our purpose is to share the truth of the Bible for what it was and what it still is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salvation of the world is my primary concern because my people have been led away from me by the evil one with lures of riches, new ideologies and precepts that confuse my flock who are without their Good Shepherd.
Yes, it is true that there are so many evil things that still exist because they serve for a purpose in My divine plan, but, in the end it will be exposed and my people will come to realize they were not in the true light. For sometimes, there are some teachings that serve as light for a certain group. They grow, they prosper believing they have the true religion that would save the world, only to discover that their leaders did not really know the truth.
Shades of truth is different from the whole truth, that is so different! Many are deceived with these half truths, one of them is the virginity of Mary, My chosen spouse. They seek to destroy her image and reputation because they cannot conceive or rather they refuse to believe that I, God, would choose a human spouse to have a Son. It is repugnant for them and inconceivable because they want their Savior to be purely God, not a man, a carpenter from Galilee. Who would like to believe that a carpenter from a poor town of Galilee can be better than the teachers of the Law?
Pride again comes into the picture. Pride blocks the heart from recognizing the voice that acknowledges the Savior.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Miracles
I have always believed in miracles because life is full of them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Miracles are acts of God above human perception defying laws of nature and science. They are unexplainable, transcendental but people will always try to analyze and scrutinize miraculous events to satisfy their pride of being the learned one.
Everything I do confounds human learning, although sometimes I allow it to happen in the context of something medically and scientifically probable. This is to let glimpse of the complexity of the process involved in a miracle. They should not try to explain a heavenly phenomena with human wisdom because it is folly.
When do they realize that they can never be equal to My knowledge and power? Whatever I allow to happen in this world will happen without the consent and manipulation of these learned ones. What folly to try to explain my Godly activities. No, they can't for as long as they are blind with their own ego and self-importance they can't see the simplicity out of the complexity they have made.
Fools, to even contemplate how weather will take place. It is only I who commands the sun, moon and stars, the waves of the ocean and the winds to go about their daily routine and in what direction it will take. No one should try to predict where these elements are going for they will just be confounded.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Miracles are acts of God above human perception defying laws of nature and science. They are unexplainable, transcendental but people will always try to analyze and scrutinize miraculous events to satisfy their pride of being the learned one.
Everything I do confounds human learning, although sometimes I allow it to happen in the context of something medically and scientifically probable. This is to let glimpse of the complexity of the process involved in a miracle. They should not try to explain a heavenly phenomena with human wisdom because it is folly.
When do they realize that they can never be equal to My knowledge and power? Whatever I allow to happen in this world will happen without the consent and manipulation of these learned ones. What folly to try to explain my Godly activities. No, they can't for as long as they are blind with their own ego and self-importance they can't see the simplicity out of the complexity they have made.
Fools, to even contemplate how weather will take place. It is only I who commands the sun, moon and stars, the waves of the ocean and the winds to go about their daily routine and in what direction it will take. No one should try to predict where these elements are going for they will just be confounded.
The Holy Spirit
Like Nicodemus, we sometimes tend to hide our true beliefs of our faith in order not to be ridiculed of our real ignorance. We pretend we know the Catholic doctrines, but do we really know and understand it? Like the night time that he came to secretly meet Jesus, we secretly meet Jesus too in the privacy of our prayer and Bible study time to seek the truth and know Him better. With the help of the Holy Spirit we come to a better understanding of the verses we've read so many times before. The verses we read but did not understand suddenly catches our attention as if speaking to us, we slow down and read it over again and again until it will dawn on you what it was meant to say.
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The Spirit is like the wind that blows everywhere without you knowing where it comes from and where it will be going but It knows where It will dwell. The Holy Spirit will find the person who is ready to accept Him and be enlightened to a new, deeper and faithful spiritual life.
A spirit-filled and guided person knows inner peace although affected by earthly worries. The spirit within that person will pacify his soul. Trusting God and His divine plan for everyone requires letting go of human logic and reasoning for the truth to really sink in. Like Nicodemus who was a learned teacher of the Jews, what he learned from his teachers blocked his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
He did not want to be seen with Him and His followers at day time, so he came by night. A spirit-filled individual is not afraid of what others may say of them and his actions, he is not afraid of position, reputation, wealth, connections that might be in danger of losing because he chose to believe other than what is expected of him.
A spirit-filled person unburdens himself of human knowledge he had acquired to be filled with spiritual knowledge that will lead him to everlasting life. He is not afraid of the dark because the light in him will make him seek for the light, for truth prefers the light rather than darkness.
Be then my light in this world of darkness, a single light can bring relief to someone out there looking out for a shard of light on his path. Be not afraid to share what you know because I have made it known to you myself. Go and be a good servant, share my love with others, let them know I have been waiting for them to come back to ME.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Spirit is like the wind that blows everywhere without you knowing where it comes from and where it will be going but It knows where It will dwell. The Holy Spirit will find the person who is ready to accept Him and be enlightened to a new, deeper and faithful spiritual life.
A spirit-filled and guided person knows inner peace although affected by earthly worries. The spirit within that person will pacify his soul. Trusting God and His divine plan for everyone requires letting go of human logic and reasoning for the truth to really sink in. Like Nicodemus who was a learned teacher of the Jews, what he learned from his teachers blocked his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
He did not want to be seen with Him and His followers at day time, so he came by night. A spirit-filled individual is not afraid of what others may say of them and his actions, he is not afraid of position, reputation, wealth, connections that might be in danger of losing because he chose to believe other than what is expected of him.
A spirit-filled person unburdens himself of human knowledge he had acquired to be filled with spiritual knowledge that will lead him to everlasting life. He is not afraid of the dark because the light in him will make him seek for the light, for truth prefers the light rather than darkness.
Be then my light in this world of darkness, a single light can bring relief to someone out there looking out for a shard of light on his path. Be not afraid to share what you know because I have made it known to you myself. Go and be a good servant, share my love with others, let them know I have been waiting for them to come back to ME.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Reconciliation
"Peace be with you," these were the words of the risen Jesus when He first appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection. Not words of recrimination for leaving Him alone during His Passion but words of reconciliation. How happy the disciples must have felt to see their Lord again but for sure they must have been hesitant at first how to react in His glorious presence. They must have been dumbstruck and terrified too to have seen Jesus standing in their presence despite the locked doors. Their mixed emotions must have been the reason why Jesus showed them His wounds to prove to them that He was really the one that was crucified.
How eagerly they told Thomas about their encounter, but he did not readily believe that Jesus really came back to life unless he himself will see and feel the wounds of his hands and at His side. So, the next time Jesus appeared to the disciples and Thomas was there, Jesus let the doubting disciple feel His wounds, and the exclamation of total belief that we say today during the consecration of the Eucharist came first from a doubter's lips, "My Lord and My God."
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Reconciliation of the soul begins with forgiveness. If you forgive, you open the path for love to flow and be reconciled with the person you've had disagreement with. It is easy to forgive if you don't let pride block it. Don't be overly proud of yourselves. Pride doesn't give you good things in your life materially and spiritually. It is the root of all evil, not money as the world says.
For what can money do? It doesn't have a spirit, it cannot talk or feel. It is the one who has the money that makes it evil, although they and their pride are hiding the evil desires of their heart by saying money is the root of their greed. They cannot accept their own evil ways, so they blame something inanimate, something that can't speak back and condemn their evil holders.
Possession of money is good, if you share it with others who have less. Learn to share your blessings with others, it gives much joy to be able to make others happy. There is joy in giving with open arms, without expecting something back in return. When you give, give freely and joyously and you will be given back something more from Me in return for your brotherly kindness.
How eagerly they told Thomas about their encounter, but he did not readily believe that Jesus really came back to life unless he himself will see and feel the wounds of his hands and at His side. So, the next time Jesus appeared to the disciples and Thomas was there, Jesus let the doubting disciple feel His wounds, and the exclamation of total belief that we say today during the consecration of the Eucharist came first from a doubter's lips, "My Lord and My God."
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Reconciliation of the soul begins with forgiveness. If you forgive, you open the path for love to flow and be reconciled with the person you've had disagreement with. It is easy to forgive if you don't let pride block it. Don't be overly proud of yourselves. Pride doesn't give you good things in your life materially and spiritually. It is the root of all evil, not money as the world says.
For what can money do? It doesn't have a spirit, it cannot talk or feel. It is the one who has the money that makes it evil, although they and their pride are hiding the evil desires of their heart by saying money is the root of their greed. They cannot accept their own evil ways, so they blame something inanimate, something that can't speak back and condemn their evil holders.
Possession of money is good, if you share it with others who have less. Learn to share your blessings with others, it gives much joy to be able to make others happy. There is joy in giving with open arms, without expecting something back in return. When you give, give freely and joyously and you will be given back something more from Me in return for your brotherly kindness.
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