Arch in front of government building with volcano Agua

Volcano Agua and Cross of Antigua

Luke 8:13

"But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away."

You can't build on a weak foundation. Even the people that lived in 26 A.D. It just doesn't happen. During the construction on a weak foundation, every thing will begin to fall apart. Haven't you heard the story of the man that built his house on sand and the man that built his house on rock? The house on sand soon became ruble with a blast of wind. It stood no chance to withstand nature. When having a good and strong foundation you then can stand strong and bare attacks. The world or devil, however you choose to look at it, is constantly trying to attack you and cause you to fall into temptation. This would be a good point to say, the struggle is real. It is tough, I myself fight temptations every day and so do many other disciples of Jesus. And to me the best way to fight those temptations is look towards Christ and His word. Jesus Himself had to fight the temptations of this world. That's one characteristic He has that has made Him so great and able to last all these years. In 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." To have the foundation of Christ alone in your life is by far the best foundation you can have. At least I will believe that. I don't know about you but the power that is displayed from God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is so great that I wouldn't even want to begin to second guess them as my foundation. It would be like an F5 tornado trying to rip apart a titanium bunker. It's not going to happen. Period. Look back at what happen to the man who built his house on rock. He withstood storms over and over. Always start with a strong foundation. Even on a smaller scale, take a football player for example, works out and builds muscle five times a week, then there is another football player that didn't see the inside of a weight room, and didn't care to build muscle. Put them in a tackling drill and see what happens. The small guy that didn't care to have a strong foundation fell over. Have a strong foundation and you can fight the temptations that the devil throws at you. The noise of this world is very loud. Turn it down and turn up the voice of God. He's there with you till the end.  In Matthew 28:20 Jesus says, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He is with us always. That is a promise from Him. God keeps His word, and if you think He isn't, ask Him about it, He will show you He is. So remember that when temptation starts to creep up on you, close your eyes, ask God for help and if you have a bible with you, read it. Always remember, that God or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit is always with us, He is my foundation, my brothers and sisters foundation, He can be yours and wants to be yours. For this week I will write on my hand Matthew 28:20 to give myself a reminder that God is always there for me. "Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh."

Luke 8:14

"Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity."

I once knew a guy that was being strangled by the noise of this world. He would go to church quite often on Sunday, would sit somewhere in the middle rows during service, have a bible in his hands, and his mind stuck on what he did the night before, or what he will do when service was over. Service would start and he would be sitting there looking at the pastor, bible open to a random page, and his head was stuck in the clouds thinking, "I wonder what party is going on tonight. If there is one, I wonder if there will be alcohol and girls there. I wonder if I could call Tim and chill for a while. Man, what is this guy saying? All he does is blabber along! What a bunch of idiots that listen to this guy!" When it was time to turn a page, he would turn a page, time to sing, mumbling the words. I knew this guy so well, that every morning I would look him in the mirror. I knew this guy so well, I didn't know myself. I knew this guy so well, that he had a wake up call when he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the back of somebody on Parker road. And the night before, he was out with friends around 9 pm getting high. I knew this guy so well that all he cared about was himself. All that he was thinking about was girls and getting high. When I had gotten that wake up call, I knew it was time to change up the story. I began to start listening in church, to start caring for other people around me. I still pleased my own mind and flesh, but instead of waking up every day and looking myself in the mirror with bloodshot eyes, I began to listen in church. Instead of waking up and thinking to myself, I wonder what party is happening tonight, or who I could hang out with, I would go home, get some sleep and set the pipe down, turn my phone off and not listen to the world calling me. I would open up my devotional book from time to time and read what it has to say, then open my bible to the chapter it was talking about. In all truthfulness looking back at that guy, I had no idea who that was. This morning (August 5th), I woke up in the bed I'm sleeping in, in Guatemala, asking the Lord, what he has for me today. As I began to read my psalm of the day, God started to speak to me about this verse. Luke 8:14, "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity." And my psalm of the day is psalm 10. I began to read the psalm, and half way through versus 5-8, "His ways are always prospering; Your judgements are far above, out of his sight; as for all his enemies, he sneers at them. He has said in his heart, "I shall not be moved; I shall never be in adversity." His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is trouble and iniquity, he sits in the lurking places of the villages; in the secret places he murders the innocent; his eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless." Something caught me up and I wasn't exactly sure. I began to underline those versus and began to realize that God was talking to me, about me. I was moved in such a way that I didn't know what to say. I had done this? questioning myself. I realized, yes, I had done this, and this is part of who I was. I was the seed that was choked by the weeds around me. I was the seed that wasn't being watered enough. I was the seed that lied awake every morning thinking, what does the world have for me today. Times have changed and I can't thank God enough for making me fall asleep at the wheel. I can't begin to thank Jesus enough for saving me from the lies of this world. The world was so noisy that I couldn't hear God. Now every morning, I lie awake in bed for a couple of minutes thanking Him for bringing me back from the dead. Some where in the book of John, can't remember the verse but John states, "why do you look amongst the dead for someone who is alive? He is alive! He is risen!" Why was I looking amongst the dead for someone who is alive. Ask yourself that and see what happens. My aunt and uncle had given me a graduation card with that verse on it, I finished reading it and broke down. And now every morning, the first thing I do, is thank God for what He has done for me! Sometimes we don't realize the wake up call God gives us, I'm glad I did. If I hadn't, I'd probably be at a friends house getting high. And now I wake up in another world and hear the most soothing voice there is to hear. John 6:26-27, "most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the son of man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." I will for this week write on my hand psalm 10 for a reminder that I am free from what I was.

Luke 8:16

"But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bare fruit in patience."

Having a good heart? Do you have a good heart? If so, what does it look like? Not the shape or the cholesterol levels but the love that pours out of it. When you think of someone having a good heart, you often think, what they do with their money or their abundant resources. Are they donating to a charity program, did they help pay for a strangers groceries, did they buy a homeless man a meal. Those are all ideas of a good heart. No questioning about it. Now did they show it with love? 1 Corinthians 13:3, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." They could've given the homeless guy a car, but without showing love, there is no gain. Now if they have adopted a child and given him/her a good home and loved that child as there own, there is gain in the love. Did they save a dog from an animal shelter, take it home and care for the dog, feed the dog, give it a name, gave it a bath, and loved that animal as one of their own. It's interesting to look at loving one another in a different perspective. Without love, you are nothing, as Paul states in Corinthians. Look at God, Jesus. He loves us so much even when we do bad. And many disciples, even nonbelievers, consistently state that He is all powerful, that He has an importance, because He has loved. Maybe next time when you donate clothes to goodwill, instead of mumbling and groaning that you had to put them in a box, drive or walk to the goodwill store, mumbling under your breath how dumb it sounds to give away clothes, you might put love into giving away clothes that your family doesn't want any more, that there is another family out there, maybe even lives a couple houses away from where you live, that desperately needs another shirt for the day, or a pair of pants to walk out of the house in. Love might even be difficult to show to some that are mean to you. But by showing that love that Jesus asks you to show, they might turn around and apologize and show love back. It's really amazing how love works. Especially in return. So have a good heart, show the love that God has loved you with, and in return, people will notice, God will notice and you will be loved back. It's amazing that God loves us. I question why He does, but I most likely won't know until I see Him in heaven. We have never deserved His great love. 

When we begin to keep His word in our hearts and meditate on it, we begin to bare fruits. Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness." Baring fruits of the Holy Spirit becomes a blessing amongst itself. Jesus asks us to do so, that we may become more like Him. One fruit that stands out to me most is that of patience. Patience has been the biggest of struggle for me in my life. I struggle with many others, but patience has always stood out. Even today, patience is always seeming to be the stumbler in life. When dealing with jobs or even grocery shopping, I've had to bite my lip and be patient. Even in simple situations as in driving, my impatience-ness seems to get in the way. Ever since I have come to Christ I have noticed a great difference in the patience I have obtained. Just through obtaining Gods word, I have been blessed with more patience. One verse that stands out to me about patience is James 1:4. It says, "but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing." Let patience have its perfect work. Patience become perfect. You don't hear the word perfect very often. Usually when I hear it, it's referring to God or Christ. Which They are perfect. God, having patience of perfection, patience of a boss, has waited on me for almost nineteen years. Now that is a lot of patience. For others, it could be way more than that. It's amazing how such little patience can go such a long ways. 

For tonight, I will write down 10 areas that I need to be more patient with and pray about them.

Hebrews 6:12

"That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise."

When times are getting tough, or when you are going through a great loss in your life, don't give up. As much as you want to let go of the rope, throw in the towel, don't! That's what the devil is telling you to do. God puts you through this hard times for a reason. He wants you to look towards Him, ask Him for strength to push on. He doesn't want you to hold up the white flag, He wants you to pray to Him and read His word. He wants us to pound Him, over and over with prayer. We want to be praying so much that He is constantly busy. If we aren't pounding on Him with prayer over and over, then He will be pretty bored up in heaven. He wants to help you get through the struggles in life. He wants to be part of your life and helping you walk for the first time, helping you speak your first word.

When we start to imitate those who have gone before us, Matthew, Paul, your very first pastors, John, Moses, Noah, Jesus, we start to be seen by God. When the cap gun fires and you start your race, you have all those that have gone before you, cheering you on. And Your coach, God, is giving you pointers on what to work on so that you can finish the race. Listen to your coach, He knows best. He created the rules for the race, picked the race for you to run, and He knows that you can finish it, so stay strong. 

Through faith you can finish the race. Believe that you can do it, and you will. Hope for the best. Be faithful to God and He will show you the light up ahead. He will help you get to the end of the race. Have hope that He will help you. Have hope in God that He will provide for your needs. Romans 8:25, "But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." Hope for what we do not see, and God will eventually show us. Even when times are rough, wait until it gets better, then He will show you why He put you through it. Most amazing thing about it is, it's all for the good in life. It may seem terrible at first, and it most defiantly can be, but push through to the end, have hope, believe in God, and it always has a plus side to it. Be eager to wait on God, and He will bless you. You may not realize it till a while down the road, but He will show you. Always remember that He is there with you. Matthew 19:26, "...with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Have faith in Him and He will be there for you.

Be eager to wait for Him. Waiting upon the Lord is a blessing amongst it self. Learn to be patient with God. He has been patient with you, we can do the same. Although it may seem very difficult to be patient, but if I can do it, I'm sure you can too. Psalm 40:1, "I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry." It's interesting what can happen when we wait upon the Lord. Just like running this race. Many others waited upon the Lord for the next instructions for finishing the race. Now it's our turn. God wants you to finish the race. 

Just remember, don't be sluggish, imitate those who have gone before you, be faithful and patient. You will get there. I believe in you and so does God. Believe in yourself. For the next week I will pray for a patience and light on imitating others who have gone before me.

1 Timothy 6:6

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain." 

There is always joy in everything you do. Even when it is down and dirty or frightful and horrid. You can find joy. Jesus was able to. James 1:2-3, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Finding joy in everything can be difficult. I myself always try to find joy in everything. The more I laugh about something, the more joy I find within it. Even when there is a more serious situation, I am sometimes scolded when I start laughing about something. Yes, I understand it's a serious moment, that doesn't mean we have to be lame. Laugh a little, live a lot. Isn't that how the saying goes? What about laugh a lot, live for God? Now that's more like it. The more you laugh, the longer you live. There was once a guy that laughed a lot in his life, and he ended up living around one hundred and ten years old. Not exactly sure how old, but he lived a long time. Not sure if he lived for God, but he found joy in what he did. He laughed about something that wasn't really all that funny, like I am while writing this. When you find joy in the little things, some would say, that's when you start living. But maybe that's just me saying that. Even when you're feeling sad, try smiling the biggest smile and eventually, well guess what, you will start laughing. If that didn't work, smile bigger. Think of it this way, if Jesus was able to find joy in the saddest situations, it may be hard, but I'm sure you can too.   Dealing with sad or depressing situations can be tough. It's always worth trying to smile. Some might say, let's turn that frown upside down! If you feel so down, then lean on the Lord. Nehemiah 8:10, "....for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Let Him help you through the situations. He is always wanting to and is always able to. Allow Him to cheer you up. Once you allow Him to do so, He will, trust me on that! Allowing God to cheer you up will bring an abundance of joy to your life. He wants you to be happy. Luke 15:11, "...that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. " Jesus, loves us, died for us, rose again for us, so that we can be joyful, so that we can be saved and live with Him in His kingdom. To hear that, think of that, and to write that down brings me joy. It brings me joy to remember that someone died for me. 

When we have joy, that's when we begin to gain what God has for us. We are brought joy from His love and mercy towards us, we then begin to serve Him, with joy. In the potters field program that I am participating in, my group had to do a media project where we have to make a video that is about something we have learned since being here. Our video was about finding joy in serving God. When cleaning up the property, doing dishes, cleaning our bedrooms every Saturday, and keeping the entrance clean. He blesses us with so much, so we must find joy in serving Him. Why shouldn't we? You might as well take away the toilet you use every day if you aren't thankful that God has blessed it upon you. Get rid of the clothes on your back if you aren't thankful for them. I sure am. I really appreciate being able to use a shower every day. Being able to use a plate to eat off of. Finding joy in everything, can be difficult, but always remember who gave it to you. It may seem that you got it yourself, but where did you get the money. Okay, from a job, who created that job? Okay fine, those ceo did, but who gave life to that ceo, your parents did, but God had already created a path for Him before he was thought of by your parents. Find joy in everything when serving for God. For this week, I will make a list of what God has blessed me with, and thank Him.