***God Fundamentally Changing Us

        I recall my younger days before I knew Christ. I was not a happy person, for I did not know exactly what I should do, felt inadequate in many ways, desired to become somebody, and finally, questioned the meaning of life. I would say that like many others around my age, I did not know who I was yet and was still searching for an answer. Christ changed all that. Let's say that he completely reset me. He removed all my confusion, self-pity, hangups, feeling of hopelessness, sinful desires, and all other mental disorders. To me, this proves that he is indeed my creator, my God, and that only he can fundamentally change us. Try to change yourself in any way without the Lord is doomed to failure. If Christ can get us into heaven, surely he can make us anew!

**Praying with Faith

           One can go to God to ask for something that's good, but at the same time wonder if he'll ever grant him the favor. Then another one can go to him, focusing totally upon him and never wondering for a moment about what might happen. Which of the two do you think the Lord would rather deal with? To the first person, the Lord would probably say, "O you of little faith," while the second person fulfills what the Lord said in Mark 11.24: "I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours."

**Looking Beyond This Life*

          We must realize that we must not be of the world and that our home should be in heaven. We live to 70, 80, or even 90, then what? It is the fool who does not think beyond this life, this world. The wise see the complete picture as God sees it and act accordingly. Pity the evildoers who are not aware of the existence of a just God. Christians who know the Lord are liberated free from this life and this world. Focusing upon yourself alone will surely lead one to self-annihilation. 

***Becoming Most Talented to God

        There are many talented people around. Some of them are so amazing that they have become famous and rich and earned great admiration from many of us not so talented. The Lord first made me see that any talent we're given should be properly used to glorify him and not ourselves, and that we can all acquire a talent that would be most pleasing and even admirable to him, which is the talent of keeping our hearts clean! To acquire this talent, we only need to repent our sins and ask the Lord to make us clean. This is just the start, for you can acquire even more talents to become holy and blameless before him! Nothing is impossible for God and we can surely tap his power to become the most talented person to him.  

***Our Final Judgment***

        Today is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 25 on the the judgment of the nations by the Son of Man, Jesus will come to separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on this right and the goats on his left. The king will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Interestingly, the Lord gives the good news to the righteous first. The Second Coming is as certain as his first coming into the world 2,000 years ago, and I look forward to the return of our Lord.

**We Are Wonderfully Made

         Psalm 139.14: I praise you, Lord, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! This morning I realized this when I realized that I could see, hear, feel, eat and survive, come up with abstract ideas, and on top of it all, know God! Many people believe that humans did evolve from apes. There may be evidence of physical evolution in animal species, but the capability of conceiving the existence of God is not something that can possibly evolve from any animal such as the ape. Anyway, know that you are wonderfully made by God and you'll be happy with both yourself and God.  

***Christ's Wonderful Blessing!

        Each one of us is aware of our own existence. I know I am I, and you know you are you. When we attain union with Christ, his existence becomes even more certain than our own! We come to know him even more than ourselves! This is truly amazing, because we do not physically see or hear him, yet our heart tells us so. It is all the Lord's doing, a most wonderful blessing to us.

***Union with God Depicted***

           When you and God are in each other, you and God are in union. But the Lord is infinite and we are like a little drop in the ocean, so how can he possibly enter and dwell in us? Perhaps we can picture that the Lord fills the entire space and we merely blend in perfectly. To achieve that is quite simple. If you can be completely open to the Lord so that there is absolutely no barrier between you and him so that he may enter you freely as he wills, then you are in union with him! You now experience total freedom in God!   

***Christ Our Only Truth

        I see so clearly that Christ is the truth. I do not consider Christianity to be a religion, for it is the absolute truth. If you want to consider it to be a religion so you can compare it with all other religions in the world, then let me point out what distinguishes Christianity from the rest. (1) The Christian belief is founded upon God's unconditional, pure love for us. (2) The God of Christ is all powerful, but also meek and humble so that we can even attain union with him. (3) The message of salvation is made crystal clear to us. (4) God never lord it over us as we have the free will to accept or reject him, making faith meaningful. These features stand out as no other religion can come close. Without the God of Christ, life becomes pointless.

**Keeping the Faith

        If you believe that the Lord God knows everything about you and you do believe in him, then you should aim to live up to this belief. You would do everything for the sake of glorifying him. When you pray, you would do your utmost to mean what you say from the heart, for he knows how sincere or serious you are. This is having faith. Your eternal life depends upon how you think, speak, and act. Now, this becomes easy once you attain union with God. But our union with the Lord can never be perfect on earth as we remain sinners. Again, our intention becomes our grace.

***Our Only True God

           Without the true God, we would all be doomed. The God of Christ is the only true God. The world is still in chaos because not the people have accepted him yet. But to those who have, you can be sure that all their sorrow will soon turn into joy forever.

*Getting Hell Right

        Some things we must get right in this life, for if we get them wrong, we won't be able to correct ourselves anymore. Hell is one of those things. If for whatever reason you end up in hell after you die, you just can't change that anymore. So don't ever say "The hell with hell!" It matters as much to you as God. Get to know and love the God of Christ and you won't have anything to worry about, for you will be with him forever!

**No Time to Waste

        In Matthew 7:7 (or Luke 11:9), Jesus said to his disciples, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." May I suggest that we speed things up by going straight to the Lord, open ourselves up wide, and let him see everything we desire in our hearts. He is most ready to help, so let's not waste any time. Learn to rely upon him every moment of our brief life on earth.

***God's Pure Love*

         Our love for others is never that pure. We love for selfish reasons. For example, a man loves a girl partially, if not wholly, because she is attractive to him. If she is not, he'll probably not even look at her, let alone love her. Again, if we like someone as a friend, it's because he or she is fun to be with or can benefit us in some way. Otherwise, we most likely would not bother to know that person. I do admit there are times we feel called to help someone we don't even know in need, but to help someone who is our enemy, that is an entirely different matter. Now, God loves all of us, even if we rebel against him. That love is absolutely unconditional and pure. Only by accepting his love for us ourselves can we possibly love others with a pure love also.

***So Close or So Far Apart, a Choice***

         You can have two people who believe in and love the Lord Jesus and become one in him. All it take is for one of the two to turn away from the Lord and now they can't be further apart. We can let God unite us or set us apart. The choice is so hard for some, yet so easy for others. And that's the way it is.

*An Instructive Dream

        I had this dream early in the morning today. I was in an environment filled with all kinds of noises, including humans chatting incessantly. Then all of a sudden, a loud pure tone came through and stopped everything, and there was peace and quiet. To me, the cacophony of noises symbolizes all the outright lies, biased views, and fake news that are being spewed out by so many godless politicians, entertainers, and mainstream news media nonstop. The pure tone symbolizes the voice of the Lord. And if we choose to hear him alone, we can shut out all the other crap.  

**War or Peace

         If we all obey the God of Christ worldwide, we'll have instant peace, for his second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. If we all rebel against the God of Christ, we'll be embroiled in a fierce spiritual war till the day we die or his Second Coming, whichever comes first. These are statements of truth Christ has already made amply clear.

*Identifying Evildoers

         The Evil One cannot stand the Lord and his people. He attacks them out of sheer hatred. You cannot reason with him, for he does not listen to you. Well, today's many evildoers behave just like that. You can only pity and pray for them.