Following Jesus

miércoles, 5 de junio de 2013

With Faith Anything Is Possible

With faith "anything is possible": You can't do what you want for lack of faith. With faith "nothing is impossible". At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.” Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well. Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?” “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:14-20 NLT

martes, 4 de junio de 2013

Do You Understand What He Says?

Do you understand what he says?: We were invited to a meeting where the speaker did not speak our language and although I struggled to understand what he said, it was hard to understand. The conference was interesting but not knowing the language was very limiting for me. In the world there are many languages and for two people to communicate, it is essential that they are both fluent in the language used. However, God is totally different, because the language of God is unique and universal. The language of God is unique because there is no need to study it to understand it and is universal because anyone can understand just by wishing it. Impressive, right? The point is that to understand the language of God, you must believe you can really communicate with God and wish to converse with Him to know His will and follow His transformative, restorative and healing instructions.

A Question Of Vision

A question of vision: Are you seeing things from a human point of view, or from God’s? From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.” Matthew 16:21-28 NLT

lunes, 3 de junio de 2013

It Is Never Too Late

It is never too late: I heard an interesting story of an elderly couple, both widowed, who met in a nursing home. What happened was that they fell in love and decided to marry. Despite their advanced age, they decided to enjoy together the years they had left. It is never too late to start or rebuild a relationship, and in the same way, it is never too late to rebuild or start your love relationship with God. It doesn't matter if you are surrounded by sadness and loneliness, God is always willing to share His Love with you, if you are seeking Him and want His Company, regardless of what life stage you are in, when you seek Him. Today is a great day to start your relationship with your Heavenly Father who loves you deeply and who is the God of the Universe.

Jesus Only Cares About Your Heart

Jesus doesn't care about religious traditions, He cares about what is in your heart.: Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ ” Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.” “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” Matthew 15:1-20 NLT