Your Heart Is Where Your Treasure Is

Matthew 6:21 says "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." This simply means that if we invest our money on material things here on earth, our heart is in this earth also but if we have invested our money on spiritual things, which is of the heaven, our heart is in heaven. How do we feel seeing Jesus again? Excited? Hesitant? Why? Is it because we have so many things here on earth that we don't want to leave? Big house? latest car model? Hi-tech and updated appliances? conveniences? fun activities with friends?

Remember that we came to this world naked, and we will leave this world naked. We will soon leave all the things that we have here on earth. If you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, you will be with Him. If you have no personal relation with Him yet, it is not too late yet. You can accept His wonderful and eternal gift which is the everlasting life. But just the same, we cannot carry anything with us when we finally reach our final destination. You will not enjoy the things you have now if these things will be left someday. So you might as well use your money for the work of Lord and I am sure that you will have more gains for eternity.

Have a blessed week!

One Flesh

Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

This instruction was given right after God brought Eve to Adam, after the first operation and after Adam called Eve a woman. Adam and Eve do not have biological dads nor moms. They were the first parent. But still God gave this instruction to them, because God foreknew that they will they will soon have their own children and their children will have their own family in the future. The instruction is given to them because God expected them to relay this to their future children and to prepare them as well. God wanted them to know that once their sons decided to have their own family, their sons need to leave them and be with his wife. This instruction is repeated in Ephesians 5:31.

I believe that this instruction is not given for nothing. I believe that God forsee the problems that arise when the children who decided to settle down still stay on their parents side. For one, the couple will not learn to build their own family. They will still depend on their parents for almost everything; decisions, finances, taking care of their kids and many other things that they supposed to learn if they decided to live on their own. And for the parents who allowed this kind of setup, they are teaching their kids to be weaklings and dependent on them.

In countries where extended families are not being practiced, this is not a problem. But in Philippines, extended families are very common. Families of the children still live with their parents. There are even some cases where the families of the grandchildren still live in their grandparents' house. Clearly, God's commandment and instruction is being ignored. Sad, but this setup is acceptable in countries like Philippines.

Many didn't realize that this kind of setup is the root of many marital and family problems. Truly, if God's instruction is not obeyed, expect problems and hurts to face.

Provoke not to wrath

I always believe that parents can make or break their children. The father's role in raising a child plays a big part on the child's future preferences and decisions, specially in their spiritual choices. Fathers can be an encouragement to their children to have an intimate relation with our Saviour or they can also be the cause of the children's choice not to serve God.

I witness many cases wherein the fathers are faithful in the church. And what I mean by faithful is not only faithful attending church worship services, but actively participating in almost all the ministries in the church. But sad, because they and sometimes they wives, are the only active in the family. Their children chose to have a different life.

Of course, this is not the father or parents' fault alone. But somehow, the parents of this children failed in some area, that is why they choice a different path.

So God, being an all-knowing God, gave a reminder for fathers in Colossians 3:21 to prevent this scenario. Colossians 3:21 says "Father, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."

Glad Father

Proverbs 15:20 says, "A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother."

Wise is defined as Dictated or guided by wisdom; containing or exhibiting wisdom; well adapted to produce good effects; judicious; discreet; as, a wise saying; a wise scheme or plan; wise conduct or management; a wise determination (thinkexist.com).

Do we not give joy and gladness to our parents if we do the right thing? We do not only give gladness but also peace of mind to our father if he sees that we act with wisdom and knowledge for he will be assured that we our life will not be in trouble.

The best wisdom that we can acquire in this world is the wisdom from God. For it is clean and pure. And we can get that wisdom if we fear God and we meditate upon His word.

You want to make your father glad? Then be wise :)

The Lord will take you up

In the coming days, I will sharing fatherly verses to honour our fathers. These are verses with "father" word. Join me as I memorize and/or refresh these verses.

To begin with, let us memorize Psalm 27:10. The Bible says "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." What an assurance isn't?

God already knew that there will be parents who will leave and forsake their children. This is the reason why this verse was written, to comfort those kids who were neglected by their parents.

Children who grew up in the nurture of their parents should be thankful that their parents are responsible enough to take care of them no matter how imperfect their parents maybe. Anyway, nobody is perfect, only God is perfect.

Be Not Conformed

Today's memory verse usually comes along with the previous verse I shared, Romans 12:1 Our verse today is in Romans 12:2. The Bible says "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed, by the renewing of your mind. That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God."

If we have a desire to know the perfect will of God in our lives, God's instruction is to stay away from the things of this world. Be ought not to conform to the standards of this world. We are not citizens of this world but of heaven. Hence, our eyes should not be focused on the things of this world but of the things in heaven. Our old nature should no longer reign in us but our the new person that God created in us when we accepted Christ as our own personal Lord and Saviour. Through constant reading and meditating upon the Word of God, our minds will eventually be renewed.

God's plan for us is the BEST PLAN for us. Should we settle for less?

Living Sacrifice

This verse is not new to me but I was reminded of this verse last week during the third night of our Bible Research. This was the night's memory verse. The verse is in Romans 12:1 & 2. The Bible says "I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

When Jesus died for our sins, Jesus did it once and for all. This means that no more other shedding of blood is required for the remission of our sins. Jesus' blood is sufficient for the sins of the world. God no longer require us to die for our sins, instead He wants us to give our lives as living sacrifice. He needs our lives to do His work here on earth, to fulfill the great commission in Matthew 28: 19-20, to reach the lost. But before we offer our lives as a living sacrifice, it should meet the requirements first; It should be holy and acceptable unto God otherwise our effort will just be like filthy rags in God's sight. Remember, God is holy and only holy things will be pleasing and acceptable in His sight.

Your life will never be acceptable in God's sight if you have no personal relationship with Him. Simply because He don't know you. The first thing you need to do before you offer your life as a living sacrifice, is establish your relationship with Jesus Christ first. Admit that you are sinner, ask God's forgiveness, and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour.

If you have any question on how to accept Christ, please leave me a note and I will be very happy to help you.

God Bless!

Unimaginable Gift

Today's memory verse is found in 1 Corinthian 2:9. The Bible says "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Isn't this is a wonderful promise? God has prepared something for us, which no man has ever conceived in mind nor in heart? What might it be? Truly, God's wisdom is infinite. It is incomparable to man's thinking. So let us love the Lord with all our hearts, mind, and soul and expect the unimaginable gift from God.

Honour Thy Mother

The world is celebrating the Mother's Day today! All of us definitely have our own moms because if we don't, we shouldn't also be existing in this sinful world. Let us take a look what the Word of God says about mothers.

Our memory verse for today can be found in Exodus 20:12. The Bible says "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." This is a familiar verse and I wouldn't be surprised if you already know the verse. This is one of the commandment in the ten commandments given to Israel by God through Moses.

In Ephesians 6:2, this commandment is repeated, Honour thy father and the mother. This is repeated because this is an important verse. According to Ephesians 6:2, this is the first commandment with promise. And what is the corresponding promise if we obey this commandment? Our lives will be prolonged.

Even without this explicit commandment, I do believe that our parents, especially our moms deserved due respect and honour. Our moms conceived us for nine months or more in their tummy. They undergo so much changes and sacrifices just to deliver us healthy. They feed us, clothed us, they give us shelter, take good care of us, and give us anything that we need. Needless to say, God used them as instruments in order for us to survive in this world.

I believe that Moms' sacrifices and efforts are greater than our dad. Our dad's main concern is to provide for our needs. Our moms are the one who do the "dirty jobs" for us. We can't count the good things that our moms did for us. In all these things, do we still need to be commanded to honour them?

Is there anything too hard for THEE

Today's memory verse is from the book of Jeremiah chapter 32 verse 17. The Bible says "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:"

What a comforting words from the Word of God, isn't? A declaration of God's almighty power. In book of Genesis, the bible declare how God created the heaven and the earth. By what means? Right! Simply by words alone! When He said, There will be a light, and there was light. No one can ever do the same thing, even the great magicians can never just utter the words to create things and will be created. Only God alone has the power to create things simply by words.

If God created the entire universe, is there anything He can't do? Ah yes! He can't change! He can't leave His promises unfulfilled. He can't do things that will contradict His holy nature.

He is a supernatural God who performs supernatural miracles in the life of men and women who put their trust in Him.