July 24, 2019

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS HERE

Luke 10:9

And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Personal Challenge

One of the errors that we have grabbed on to in the church is that the Kingdom of God is coming... someday. Jesus taught us that with His incarnation, His being God and then becoming a human being, He threw open the gates to the Kingdom of God and made it possible for all of us to enter into it and experience it now, not sometime in the distant future. That is why He tells us to proclaim to the lost world that His Kingdom is here and that they too can participate in it. We too can heal the sick because we are residents in the Kingdom of God. Glory be to God!

July 23, 2019

DO NOT WEEP

Luke 7:13

When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus is not some idle, out of reach, god that has been conceived in the mind of men. He walked upon this earth and changed the course of eternity by being both fully God and fully man. And while He was walking here amongst us He never lorded it over us. To the contrary, He had compassion for those whom He came into contact with and showed them God's love for them. He did what He asks us to do. Just as He told this widow whose only son had just died, to not weep, He tells us to not weep, to not be sad because this world is harsh and spiteful towards us. Just as He raised her son back up to life, He raises us up to life day after day. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

July 22, 2019

DOING

Luke 6:46

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”

Personal Challenge

If we really want to change our world for the better by introducing everyone to Christ, then we need to change our ways. We have become a people that proclaim Christ as our Lord, but don't do any of His commandments, like loving our neighbor in word and deed. God does not want just our words, He also wants our actions. Lord, have mercy!

July 21, 2019

HOLD FAST

Proverbs 1:22

“So long a time as the simple hold fast to righteousness,
They shall not be ashamed;”

Personal challenge

It is so easy in our Christian journey to become prideful and arrogant in what we perceive as our Christian-ness. We boast about the books we have read or the number of times that we have read the Bible. We are puffed up at our role in the church; I am on Parish Council, I teach Sunday School, I am a Deacon, I am... We strut around like we own the church, and even God Himself, because we donate a certain amount to the church. This Proverb reminds us that if we want to live a Christian life before God and our fellow human being that is without shame and full of righteousness, then we must proceed through our Christian journey as we did when we first met Christ, as simple, humble children, holding on tight to the hem of His robe lest we lose our way. He is the righteousness that we hold on to, not all of the prideful things above. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 20, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Mark the Ascetic

July 19, 2019

WHOEVER DESIRES

Revelation 22:17

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Encouraging Words

Another promise of the future that awaits us. A future where we will never thirst, not just for water, but for anything. We are not just told of this promised world but told to come and partake of it. Glory be to God!

July 18, 2019

DWELLING WITH US

Revelation 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Encouraging Words

God, our creator and sustainer, promises to dwell with us. That promise includes creating for us a place in eternity where there will be no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, and no more pain. What a glorious and precious promise. Glory be to God!

July 15, 2019

KNOCKING

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Encouraging Words

Jesus never gives up on us. He is always at the door of our hearts and lives knocking, waiting for us to let Him in. Even if we have chosen to give our lives to Him, we still shut Him out some times. He remains faithful even if we don't. He remains persistent, even after we have given up. He desires to sit at the feast table with us. The question is whether or not we are willing to open the door and let Him in to stay. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 13, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Macarius the Egyptian

July 12, 2019

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

2 John 1:6

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Personal Challenge

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse!" I remember hearing that statement often while I was growing up. We have all been given common sense. We have all had planted within us God’s foundational truths because we were created in His image. This is why we know that God's basic commandment to us is to love one another. As we do this in our journey through life we will get to know God more intimately and be able to see and practice more of the things, the commandments, that He wants us to do. The closer we draw to God the further we become removed from ourselves. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 11, 2019

MAKING GOD A LIAR

1 John 5:10-12

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Personal Challenge

John makes an interesting point here. God has revealed Himself to us through His son, Jesus Christ. He has also revealed Himself through nature and all of creation. Since we have had Him revealed to us, we have no excuse for not believing in Him. John even goes so far as to accuse us of making God out to be a liar if we choose not to believe in Him. This can be hard to hear. The wonderful thing about God revealing Himself to us is that through this we know His Son and through Him, we have eternal life. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

July 10, 2019

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

1 John 4:20

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

Personal Challenge

Once again we are presented with a vivid reminder that our commitment to Christ is an active commitment. We are not saved by Christ to be couch potatoes in our Christian walk. If we are not actively loving our fellow human being, whether we like them or not, whether they are rich or poor, whether their color or political affiliation or gender or any aspect of their being, matches ours or not, then how can we love our God whom we have not seen? The proof of our love for our God is shown in our love for those around us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

July 9, 2019

CONFESSING JESUS

1 John 4:15-16

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Personal challenge

Another problem that can be found in our modern-day Christianity is that Jesus Christ is often relegated to just a symbol in the worship and practices of many churches. We have simplified the Christian life to the point that if I say this special player once in my life, then I am a Christian and receive all the benefits and blessings that go with that. But John reminds us that to be a true follower of Christ, we will be confessing or professing Him constantly, in everything that we say, every action that we take, and every thought that goes through our heads. We will abide in God 24/7, which means we will no longer abide in the world or pursue the things of the world. If I am truly professing Jesus in everything that I do then I will be set apart from this world and will most likely be despised by this world. To abide in God we must abide in love for those around us. Glory be to God!

July 8, 2019

WE ARE LOVED

1 John 4:10-12

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Encouraging Words

The two commandments that Jesus gave us to live by are to love God and to love our neighbor. We sometimes find ourselves complaining that we do not know how to love this way. All that we have to do is to look to God and we will see how to live with this love in our lives. God is not commanding us to do what He has not already done and continues to do. By ourselves, we will never be able to love this way. We are too self-focused. Godly love does not come from our own accord, it comes through the love that God has for us. A love so deep, so wide, so all-encompassing, that He sent His Son to be our Savior. Because of this love, and this example of loving another, we can love others. Loving this way is so powerful that by loving one another we will have God abide in us and be manifested in our actions of loving. Glory be to God!

July 7, 2019

HE IS GREATER

1 John 4:4

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Encouraging Words

So, what is it that we have overcome? The verses before this speak of the forces or spirits that are at work in this to draw us away from God and His grace and mercy. Notice that the verb used here is that we have already overcome them, that they no longer have any power or control over us. How have we done this? We have not on our own, but our Lord, by His indwelling within us gives us His power to overcome the spirits of this world. Through Him, we can live godly and pure lives because He is greater than he who is in this world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 6, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. John Chrysostom

July 5, 2019

IN DEED

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Personal challenge

We have become, in many cases, a "Christian" nation of hypocrites. What do I mean by this? We go to our churches on Sunday's and midweek's and sing songs about God's love and mercy. We relish in the fact that He loves us and that Jesus gave His life for us. We take joy in hearing that He wants us to love one another. And then we go through the rest of our week cursing at the person who took our parking spot or cut in the line before us. We talk angrily and hatefully about those aliens amongst us who are here in our country when we would rather they be somewhere else. We do not love those around us, all of them in word or in tongue. We are hypocrites. As Jesus call the Pharisees, "we are whitewashed tombs." We are called to love in deed and not just words. Lord, have mercy!

July 3, 2019

KNOWING HOW TO LOVE

1 John 3:16

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Personal Challenge

God does not expect us to know how to love Him and our neighbor without giving us a clear example. That example is Jesus. He became a human being so that He could be one of us. He lived His life in one of the hardest times in human history. He loved us so much that He gave His life for us. If we know Him, love Him, and strive to be like Him, then we too will be laying our lives down for our brethren. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 2, 2019

CHILDREN OF GOD

1 John 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Encouraging Words

Those of us who have chosen to give our lives to Christ and strive to follow in His footsteps have been proclaimed by God to be called His children. Through Christ, we have been adopted into His family. As His children though, the world no longer sees us as part of its family and begins to show its dislike for us just as it shows its dislike for God. As this happens more and more in our lives we should rejoice because this means that we are becoming more like Him. Glory be to God!

July 1, 2019

DOING THE WILL OF GOD

1 John 2:17

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Personal challenge

Throughout the history of the Church, people have given there all to the Church. Some have given all of their possessions. Some their time by becoming ascetics, monastics, priests, and volunteers in their local church. Some have even given their lives as martyrs. The world looks at these committed Christians and sees them as foolish. As a Christian, however, we look at the promises of our God and see that the things of the's world mean nothing compared to the eternity that He has for us. We are happy to give up those things that are temporary for the opportunity to abide with our God forever as His children. Glory be to God!

June 30, 2019

AN OLD COMMANDMENT

1 John 2:7

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.

Personal Challenge

From the beginning of God’s creation, there has been one commandment for all to follow. All other instructions, guidance, and even the old covenant law are based on this commandment. Love! Love our God. Love our neighbor. Love those who love us. Love those who hate us. Love ourselves. This single commandment comes from God's very nature, which is that He is love. We have no excuse for not knowing what He wants us to do. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

June 29, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Anthony the Great

June 28, 2019

AM I A LIAR?

1 John 2:4-6

He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Personal challenge

John does not pull any punches here. If I claim to "know" Christ, to be one of His followers, is there evidence of that in my life? Do I keep His commandments? Do I love God and strive to be like His Son? Do I love my neighbor? How do I love my neighbor? Am I loving, caring, and compassionate toward my family, my friends, those whom I work with or just run into every day? Do I take care of the widow, the orphan, the naked, the poor, the alien (immigrant amongst us)? If I am not doing these things, if I am not expressing God's love in this world that He has placed me, then there is the possibility that my proclamation that I "know" God, is actually a lie, a facade. These are sobering questions to ask, but necessary to keep me focusing on Christ and striving to walk as He walked. A walk that took Him to the cross for all of us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

June 27, 2019

HE IS FAITHFUL

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Command with a Promise

Our God is faithful and just. We can count on the truth that He will never falter in the fulfillment of His promises. We, on the other hand, can easily stray from our relationship with Him and sin. We make choices all the time that do not measure up to what God wants from us. Here is where the command followed by a promise comes onto play. We can run back to our God and confess our sins to Him and He promises to forgive us of those sins and to cleanse us of our unrighteousness. He will never falter on that promise. Glory be to God!

June 26, 2019

WALK IN THE LIGHT

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Personal challenge

God is light, uncreated and pure light. When we received Christ and the Holy Spirit into our lives we came into fellowship with God in that light. We are still given our free will to choose to walk in that light or walk in the darkness of the world. If we choose to continually walk in that darkness then we must question whether or not our choice to follow Him was the truth or a lie. To be a truth it must continually drive us to be in God's light and separate from the darkness of the world. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

June 25, 2019

FELLOWSHIP

1 John 1:1-3

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Encouraging Words

Jesus did not provide for us our salvation in a vacuum. He did it in fellowship with His disciples. He did not show up one day and give His life for us without spending time in a relationship with the very people He came to save. He came as an infant so that He could spend His entire life as a human being like the rest of us. He grew up in fellowship with His family, His neighbors, the leaders of His community, and later His disciples. It is through fellowship with one another that we all learn what it is to be human. More importantly, it is through fellowship that we learn how to love our neighbor and to die to self for our neighbor. Besides, God through eternity is in fellowship as Father, son, and Holy Spirit. Glory be to God!

June 24, 2019

OUR LONG SUFFERING GOD

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Encouraging Words

The Church has been waiting for over 2,000 years for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ so that He can establish His new heaven on earth. Many times we get impatient and even lose hope that He really is coming back. God is not playing some kind of cosmic joke on us. He is being long-suffering and giving us all, both Christians and non-Christians, time to come to Him and to grow in Him. He desires that all who do not know Him or have never heard of Him to be given the chance to come to Him. He desires that all of us who claim Him as our Lord repent of our sinful ways and carry His Good News to those who have not heard. He is long-suffering for us all. Lord, have mercy!

June 23, 2019

SPIRITUAL PROGRESSION

2 Peter 1:5-7

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Personal Challenge

Our growth to living in the image of Christ, our theosis, is a spiritual progression. The journey begins with our faith in Christ and all that He has done to save us from death, but it does not stop there. In our journey, we must strive to add spiritual virtues to that faith by seeking the virtue of knowledge in our Lord. To that spiritual knowledge is added self-control as we practice and work out our salvation. We then progress to perseverance, then godliness, then brotherly kindness by loving our neighbor, and finally progressing to the point where God's love emanates through us. This is a life-long journey that we must choose to remain true to. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

June 22, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. John Chrysostom