Stains

"He guides me through the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake." - Psalm 23:3

For the past week this verse has been resonating with me. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure. I know I've found that treasure inside of me, but it was dirty and I've been trying to polish and clean it. The reason this verse has been resonating with me is because sometimes I feel I'm really close to having it clean, and then God reveals even more dirt and grime, and all sorts of gunk stuck to it, the results of my selfishness and pride, and the hardest things to clean. The surface stains are easy, it's the deeper stains that are really tough to see and remove. It's painful.

Last Wednesday, God showed me something about myself that I didn't know I had in me. I guess I knew, but I didn't pay it any mind and I never thought it was bad until that night. Another deep stain to remove and even more reason to give thanks to God because, truly, the only good in me is Him. Everything else in me seeks my own comfort and my own reward.

We all have this treasure inside of us. The Lord leads us through paths of righteousness because I think that this treasure is a mirror that needs to reflect His image, His love, and His mercy… if only we can work on getting it spotless.

Today's Prayer:
Oh Lord, You are so good in showing me all the things inside of me that are soiled. I am so grateful that You, in Your mercy, have taken me to mold me into a reflection of Yourself, despite how slow and difficult the process is. I am so very far from perfect, but I can do all things in You who strengthen me. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen.

Help The Call To Sinners

"When Jesus heard this He said, 'Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.'" - Matthew 9:12

One of the ugliest things people can do is refuse to go to church or a religious event because of who else is attending. I have heard people say they don't go to church because there are worse sinners inside than outside. They feel holier than the people in the church because they perceive their own sins to be nothing in comparison. People that think like this are so wrong! If we see "bad people" in the church, let's give thanks to God that they are at least trying to change, even if we see them sinning the moment they walk out! Afterall, how many times haven't we fallen? As Jesus told the Pharisees when they complained about Him visiting a tax collector, He came to call the sick. It is not our business who God calls or who God forgives. He sets each of us on our own paths to salvation. For our part, we need to support sinners on the road to salvation. Glory to God who is on the verge of receiving a new soul! We should never criticize who is looking for God because what is in their hearts is only known by God and no one else. Worry only about yourself and making sure you are right with the Lord.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, show me how to be merciful as You are merciful. Blind me to the sins of others and give me only admiration for the souls that decideto seek You, despite their weaknesses and shortcomings. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Mercy

"For God had given us the Law through Moses, but Truth and Loving-kindness came through Jesus Christ." - John 1:17

All of my life, I have followed the correct path. I hardly ever gave my parents any trouble. I was the teacher's pet and have always been called the goody goody by those who know me. Because of this, I painfully confess, I have often judged others because they weren't like me. I wouldn't admit it then, but now I realize I thought myself better. All this time I have been really good at following the law, doing what's right and staying away from bad. But my heart had been in being proud of myself for being right, while true goodness from the heart was lacking.

God has given us His law, but each of us knows the difference between right and wrong. What about mercy? Mercy is an undeserved gift from God. That is what Jesus brought to us with His life, death, and resurrection. True love and kindness have been given to us by Jesus. That means that because He loves us, not because we have been good, and even when we've been bad, Jesus forgives us without merit. He washes away sin. He washes away guilt. He washes away any pain we carry in the heart. It really doesn't matter what we've done in the past. God doesn't look at us like I would have in the past. If you weren't "good' like me, I would have thought less of you. But not God. The further you feel from Him, the more He wants to hold you, embrace you, keep you safe in His arms. He doesn't seek our righteousness but our mercy… that we love others in this way. That we see that we all come from the same Father. This way, no one can ever feel better than anyone else since all we have is because God has been loving and merciful, and has blessed us.

Please, don't make the same mistake I've made if you feel this speaks to you as well. Ask Jesus to bless you with His mercy. We are all flawed and have all sinned, yet the Lord loves us despite of all these things. Abandon yourself in His mercy and share it with others.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, as imperfect as I am, with all my bad thoughts, deeds, and attitude, you still choose to love me and walk with me. I could never deserve you, but please change my heart. Humble me and make me pliable. Work through me and show me Your perfection. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Stumble and Get Back Up

"For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity." - Proverbs 24:16

I know what it feels like to let God down. To one day feel like you're so close and you're on the right path… and then the next you've stumbled and it hurts. You fell down and committed the sin you swore you weren't going to. Maybe it's an addiction you're fighting. Maybe it's the way you're treating someone. Whatever it is… it's separating you from God and that guilt, that shame is tearing you up inside. One day you feel worthy of the Lord and the next you convince yourself you shouldn't even go to church on Sunday.

There's good news here and it's that you're human. Jesus fully understands those painful weaknesses and that's why He came to save us. This verse in Proverbs is amazing… the just man falls seven times… if you saw someone make a mistake seven times, you would brush them off, wouldn't you? God doesn't. To God, the only thing that matters is that we get back up. You can sin one hundred times in a day and if by the end of the day, you turn back and try again for God, in His eyes you are just. The only thing that separates the wicked from the just is that the wicked stay down and give up.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your unconditional love and mercy. I thank You that You don't judge us as harshly as we judge ourselves sometimes. Whenever I stumble, and You know I do often, please be there to lift me back up. In Your Name we pray, amen.

The Good You Do

Before I start, I'd like to apologize for not sending out a message in almost a week. I was really sick and weak, and didn't have much energy for anything… but I'm better now so let's get to it!

"Be careful not to make a show of your righteousness before people. If you do so, you do not gain anything from your Father in Heaven. When you give something to the poor, do not have it trumpeted before you, as do those who want to be seen in the synagogues and in the streets in order to be praised by the people. I assure you, they have already been paid in full." - Matthew 6:1-2

Those of you looking to do something truly selfless for Lent should be volunteering your time, donating more money, and simply putting more effort into helping those around us who are in need… but when you do good for others make sure you question yourself as to why you're doing it. Some of us do it to be Jesus' hands and feet here on Earth while others do it so they can boast to others and receive praise for their "righteousness." They want people to tell them how good and selfless they are. During this sermon in Matthew, Jesus goes on to say that what your right hand does, your left hand shouldn't know about, meaning that when you do something good for others, even if it's donating a kidney, if you really intended it to be for God, don't tell anyone else. If God is who matters and you're acting out of the goodness of your heart, then God saw what you did… keep it at that. Instead, if you tell people what you did for someone and just "let" people find out so they can tell you what a good person you are, then don't expect the Lord to give you any kind of recognition since you have already received it from others. Your actions show you only wanted to please yourself, not God. If God was your real motivation, telling others and bragging about how holy you are shouldn't be happening. Throughout the gospels, there are so many instances where Jesus would heal someone and then He would tell them to keep quiet and not tell a soul. Even though He deserved all the praise in the world, Jesus kept quiet because the good He did was for God and not for His own ego.

Therefore, please examine yourselves and your motives. Let them be pure. Let this Lenten season be full of good acts for others that are only between you and God… I believe anything else is inspired by the devil.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, search me and make me clean. Humble me and build me up again to be Your loyal and faithful servant. Let all the works of my hands be for You and You only, and not for others to see. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Am I Worthy?

"Place your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you, for He never allows the upright to fall." - Psalm 55:22

The journey towards God is a painful one because God's role in our lives is to make us complete. This means that when you place your heart on God, for a second you might be feeling like you're doing really well, but God brings out in you those fears and insecurities you didn't even know you had. We are all broken in many more ways that we can imagine and God seeks to heal us, put us together. In my case, as I have been sharing with you, I have worry/ anxiety issues. I know I should trust in God completely, but when I'm in a bind, I get overly anxious, nervous, and usually start crying in despair. As a matter of fact, what motivated me to be a straight A student in school had always been the fear of getting yelled at by a teacher, or the fear of failing and being seen as stupid. I never even realized the degree to which I felt this until God brought it up to the forefront for healing. I'm praying about it and I know He's working on it.

In the same way, I know you have deep seeded fears, insecurities, anxieties. Maybe they're similar to mine or maybe they're totally different. The point is that when we realize these issues we have within ourselves, we might not think we're worthy of God. I felt like this this week - in my despair I felt that I didn't trust God enough with my problems just because He took longer than usual to answer me. Then I thought to myself, "why would God help me if I failed Him?" And I'm sure you, at one point or another, feel the same way. We all have problems and drama that we deal with every day and when the Word of God tells us to put our trust in Him because He will sustain us, we really want to do that. We really want to just rest in His arms where things are safe and nothing bad or hurtful ever happens. But then we read the next part about God doing this for the upright…is that me? I'm not holy. I carry so many sins and let God down constantly with my poor faith…is God's promise then not for me? Our own low self-esteem might say that it doesn't apply to us, but if you're reading this right now, it does apply to you. No matter how broken you are and how many sins you commit, if your heart is placed on trying to follow the Lord, then you are upright. Jesus' best friends betrayed Him at His death, but He still gave them His church to run for Him. The Lord knows our sins better than we do so when our hearts and our minds are trying to please Him, that alone make us upright and righteous in His eyes…then He will heal us, He will sustain us and never let us fall.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, thank You for being so merciful. You overlook my many faults because of Your love for me and then try to heal me of all my wounds. See me as Your clay so that You can mold me and fix me as You please. In Your Name we pray, amen.

For All Have Sinned

"Because all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23

When I think about this verse, I think about Jesus sitting on the ground, playing in the dirt, while telling the crowd, "He who is without sin may cast the first stone." Although it's not mentioned in the bible, historians say that He was actually writing down the sins of some of the people for them to see. The point is that some of us start to feel really righteous about how "holy" we are and this is the opposite of righteousness. In fact, the holier you become, the more humble you become. No one has the right to put anyone down because of their sins. As Saint Paul says here, ALL have sinned and ALL fall short of the glory of God. No one can say they are blameless and if they do, they only seek their own glory. The truth is that we are all very sinful and this is something we have to admit to ourselves. Just as Jesus wrote down the individual sins of the men that wanted to stone the adulterous woman, so God writes our sins in our hearts so that we should never feel boastful or righteous but every day seek to be humble and atone for our sins.

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, forgive me for the times I looked not upon my own sins but those of others. In doing this, I know I was not humble and instead acted like a judge. I recognize that I am a sinner and need Your light to guide me to paths of righteousness. In Your Name we pray, amen.

For Your Part

"For your part, you shall be righteous and perfect in the way your heavenly Father is righteous and perfect." - Matthew 6:48

Many of us are going through difficult circumstances right now with others. Someone has hurt and offended us leading us to anger and wanting to hold grudges, but here Jesus is telling us to let these things go. The key part of this verse is "for your part." If someone has hurt and harshly offended you, no matter how angry you are, it is not your job to hold anything against that person. It is God's job and He will, without a doubt, hold that person accountable for what they have done to you. That's why Jesus commands you, not asks you, to be perfect and righteous as your heavenly Father is perfect and righteous. Worry about what you do and what God wants you to do because if you hold on to grudges, the one who will suffer is you as it will consume you. Let it go, worry only about your own salvation. Leave the rest to God for He wants to bring new, great things into your life, not have you holding on to a painful past.

And remember, God doesn't expect this of you in a day, all He asks is that you learn to trust and take confidence in His Word. The rest He will provide for you.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, You know the pain and the anger I have in my heart. You know how hard it is for me to just let go and forgive. It is impossible for me but I know that in You, all things are possible. Come into to my heart Jesus and give me the peace and love to let go and try to be perfect and righteous like You. In Your Name we pray, Amen.