Your Purpose in Life

If you're a follower of Christ, you have a purpose in this world beyond merely being successful in your career or enjoying your life together with your family and friends. If that's all you care about, you're wasting the time, talents and treasures God has entrusted to you. Invest them to serve others. Help others to know the love of God, and in so doing, lead them to trust in Jesus instead of themselves. Patiently teach them how to follow the Lord day by day. Show them how they can serve the Lord also just like you do. Do it by your example. If necessary, use words. Use every platform you have to bring as many people as possible to the kingdom of God and to live in it successfully. Think of creative ways and means to influence others to know and obey the Lord. In today's technological world, there are many opportunities, if only you will explore them. Don't waste your time, talents, and treasures -- use them for God's glory. That's the reason why you're here. (http://m.me/rlccphil)

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Secret Prayers of a Leader

Leaders need to pray. But how do we pray? Listen to this podcast as I talk about the Secret Prayers of a Leader.

Start with your body

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)

Many people are frustrated about their spiritual lives. They feel they need to grow, but often they are discouraged by their lack of progress. They try so hard to become better Christians, but they end up repeating the same old mistakes that tend to make them lose hope. The key is to focus on vital behaviors that can significantly alter the course and quality of our lives in disproportionate ways. It’s the principle of leverage. You focus on a few crucial behaviors that can  place you in a position where you can experience more of God’s grace. Ultimately, of course, it’s all about God’s grace. The key is not to try harder, but to train in such a way that you place yourself in a situation where God’s grace can flow more into your life, to enable you to do what you cannot do by yourself otherwise. It’s all about cooperation, not trying harder.

Now, to begin, you need to focus on the physical aspect of your life. Yes, you heard me. Focus first on the physical aspect. In as much as we want to grow spiritually, we need to understand that we are a unified being. Our body is not an unnecessary shell that we just carry around with us wherever we go. Our body is part of who we are. We are a living soul, and that includes our body. You cannot do anything in this world apart from your body. If you do not focus on your body first, there’s nothing that you can really do about any other aspect of your life. Now, of course, I do not mean to say that there’s nothing you can do if you do not have a complete healthy body. Many people who are in that kind of situation can still do a lot of things. Nothing is impossible if someone is determined and if he or she would trust in God’s grace. But my point is that your body is the means through which you will be able to live your life here on earth. So if you do not train your body to submit to God, nothing else will work. Your spirituality begins with your body. This is why we must offer our bodies first to God as a living sacrifice. Regardless of the condition of our body, whether we are healthy or not, we must offer it. You must surrender your ownership of your body and offer it to the One who truly has the right to own it. In other words, God must own our bodies if we are to succeed in walking or following Jesus Christ. So the key to becoming a faithful and fruitful follower of Christ, and so to experience a better life, is to offer your body to God and let Him be the Lord of your body. Why don’t you do that starting today. Start with your body. That’s where all your spirituality will begin. Shalom! (PB)

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Cut to the Heart

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Your heart is the invisible real you. This is where your thoughts, emotions, and will come from. It is formed by your interactions, engagements and experiences, sometimes willingly and at other times unwillingly.

You decide where your heart will go, to what or to whom it will be open to, and this in turn affects what you store in it. However, your heart also directs you, causing you to be open to certain things, people, or experiences. Thus your heart is also the director of your life. You just don't direct it; it directs you. You go where your heart wants you to go.

At the same time, your heart is always laid bare before God. You can hide your heart from others, and even from yourself, but you cannot hide from God. In truth, your heart has many levels. It has surface levels as well as deeper levels. You're conscious of the surface levels, that's for sure, but the deeper levels are always hidden from you. However, they are never hidden from God. What you are not conscious of inevitably controls you, and you are helpless, unless God reveals it to you. His word actually penetrates the deepest part of you, and that's grace. Through this revelation, and if you're honest and humble, your heart can be transformed by the power of God. He engages with you at your deepest heart level, through His word, and when He does, you should direct your heart to listen to Him. Shalom! (PB)

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The Truth about Truth

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” John‬ ‭8:31-32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Often people quote the last part of this verse to emphasize the importance of truth. But in its proper context, this verse is not saying truth is important per se, or that it is important because it will set us free. Instead, Jesus is emphasizing the importance of following Jesus, trusting in His word or teachings. This will actually show that we are indeed His disciples. The result of that kind of trust is knowing truth by actual experience. This means that we can start obeying Jesus by faith, even though we don’t have experience yet. But by doing so, according to Jesus, we will be rewarded. We will know the truth and the truth will set us free. This is the blessing of obedience by faith, we gain experiential knowledge of the truth, and this knowledge will help us to trust God more. Eventually, we will experience more and more freedom. Freedom, of course, is synonymous with salvation.

So, when you hear a teaching from Jesus, and you have no experience whatsoever that it is true, you will be faced with a decision. Will you obey or will you disobey? My suggestion is that you should obey by faith, even though you may have some doubts. Don’t worry about it. God can handle your doubts. Just trust Him even with your little faith. Once you do that, you will see that what Jesus says is actually true. No one who puts their trust in Jesus, no matter how small, will be put to shame. Knowledge of the truth will be your reward. Not just simple head knowledge but actual verifiable experiential knowledge. This is the exciting promise of this verse. Shalom! (PB)

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