**Most Sorry and Pitiable State

          We who believe and follow Christ know that God is always with us. Even though we go through darkness, we still trust in him and know that we'll emerge victorious in the end. Enduring suffering and persecution is part of the process of attaining eternal life. On the other hand, those who don't believe in God have no truth to guide them or rely upon; they just do what they want to do to please themselves. When things don't work out their way, they panic and go completely insane. There is no sorrier or more pitiable state than being lost and on your way to losing your soul forever. [Jesus asked in Matthew 16 or Mark 8: "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" People can get it, but choose not to.]

***Our Spiritual Battle***

         While God and Satan fight for our souls, we fight ourselves. To help God win, all we need to do is to make him No. 1 and ourselves No. 2. When God wins, we also win. (Note that when Satan wins, we lose.)

*How We Can Change the World

        Each of us who are finite has a small role to play, while the infinite God who knows the overall scheme of things plays the big leading role. When we pray hard to the Lord and ask him to empower us to change the world, we become one with him and things start to happen.

*Big Prayer for This Year

        We can choose to live in the world or in God. This is how we are divided. To know the truth, we must live in God, the God of Christ. The world is filled with lying, fraudulent, hypocritical, and corrupt people. Wealthy people are applying for Government aid for those who have been hit by COVID-19, and getting it. Hospitals inflate the COVID death figures to receive more money from the Government. Congress proposed to pay another $600 to each citizen who needs help, but surreptitiously tacked on amendments to pay millions and millions of dollars to a whole bunch of foreign governments to fund some ridiculous-sounding projects or programs! What's happening? Something fishy's going on here for sure. The loss of fear of God will result in the downfall of all of them if they don't change their ways. My big prayer this year will be that the people of the world will choose God over the world. Nothing is impossible for our Lord!

***Only Resolution You Need to Make***

          It's January 1, 2021. Should I say Happy New Year to everyone? We wish others good health a lot too. But without involving God, such gestures seem rather empty, much like customarily asking "How are you?" when greeting someone you haven't seen for a while. Of course, there's no harm in saying any of the above. As for New Year resolutions, I used to make them, but not anymore. Again, without involving God, all of them failed or were forgotten. To genuinely improve ourselves, we need God. After all, he created us and should have no trouble making us better and happier in every way when we so desire. Once you have submitted yourself to the Lord, making resolutions is no longer necessary, for the Lord now teaches, molds and shapes you directly. The only resolution you to need to make and follow through is submitting yourself to God. And you are set for life.

***End of Year Thoughts and Wishes

        Today for this part of the world is the last day of 2020. I never thought I would live this long. The Lord has his reason for everything. Am I happy about that? Well, that's not really the important question. What's important is whether we are ready to meet the Lord. It we are not and he takes us sooner than expected, that could be tragic. But if we are always ready to meet him anytime he calls, this would be a constant joy for us. Like everyone else, I still have unfinished business to take care of. A project of mine is running into some problems now. My feeling is that if it doesn't get completed, that'd be fine too. Wouldn't you agree that the coolest attitude is to never lose your cool? God is truly cool, so be like him. Have a blessed 2021! My #1 recommended New York resolution for you is to abandon yourself totally in God ao that he may bless you to his heart's content.

**We All Go Through Christ

        In John 14:6, Jesus says to his disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Some people misinterpret this and say that if you are not a Christian, you won't get into heaven. If non-Christians make it to heaven, it is still through the mercy of Christ with his full knowledge and approval. They will realize that when they get there. Of course, I am not saying that you don't need to become Christians. Christ being the true God, no matter what your belief, you come under his jurisdiction. We need to believe in Christ because he is the way and the truth and the life, and believing in him is the sure way of securing your salvation.

***Live Jesus

         To live Jesus is to live for Jesus alone and is the way to become free of the world and ourselves. We must let him be No. 1 in our lives, do all things in his name and for his glory, leave all our problems in his hands, suffer and rejoice along with him, and keep his word. Is this hard to achieve? Not at all if you let him do it for you!

**Perfect Obedience = Spiritual Success

        Apart from the Lord, we can do nothing, for he is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). Whatever we conquer spiritually, it's the Lord conquering it through us. Victory is assured when we let him lead and command us. Perfect obedience to the Lord is the key to spiritual success. 

**Know and Stay Away from Sin

           We sin because we get pleasure or satisfaction out of it. The trade-off is that we lose peace. Know that it is always sin that causes us to lose peace. Sinning unceasingly will make you loathe yourself and can end up destroying your soul. Experience the true joy of the Lord that uplifts the spirit and cleanses the soul and you'll never want to sin again. 

*We All Have a Soul

           To me, the fact that we can think and wonder about life after death is proof that we each do have a soul that lasts forever. All other animals would have no idea what life after death is all about. Then Jesus made it absolutely clear that there is heaven or hell for the departed to enter.

***Spiritual Warfare a Reality!

        Evil is real and has been with us since the beginning of mankind. Evil operates in darkness and we do not see it until we are directly affected. Jesus wants us to remain alert and vigilant so that we may not get snared by evil and lose our soul. Evil sneaks up on us when we slack off and don't fight. That's why it is so important that we surrender ourselves to Christ to let him make us strong and holy. If Trump hadn't come along this time, no one would have realized how extensively evil has infiltrated our governments, our courts, the big corporations, the main stream media, the entertainment industry, the academia, and more. It's hard to believe that we could become a Communist country should the evildoers get their way! This spiritual warfare will continue on until the Lord's Second Coming. Meanwhile we must defend the glory of God with all our heart, with all our strength, and with all our soul.

**God Calling Us*

        God is calling you when you first sense the emptiness and start questioning the meaning of life. He is calling you again when you realize that we are all sinners and need salvation. He calls you every time you feel that you need help. And if you find Christ to be the Savior, believe and follow him to the end, his last call to you will be "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Matthew 25:34)

**To Remain True to God

         Today's first reading comes from 1 John 2. John wrote "Whoever says, 'I know Jesus,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar.... But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him...." So if we truly know Jesus, we would keep his commandments. If we don't obey him at all times, then we do not know him yet. Keep his word and we remain in union with him. 
        John further wrote "Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness." In other words, if we don't love everyone yet, we are not completely in the light yet. Christians already know everything said here. They only need to execute them successfully, and this calls for full surrender to the Lord. 

*Darkness, Not Light, Blinds Us

        A couple posts back, I mentioned "darkness must have blinded you." Is that possible? We know that a bright light can temporarily blind you, but it's also true that light dispels darkness to make you see. In completeness darkness, you cannot not see anything, so you become like a blind person. Yes, darkness does blind one and light opens our eyes. It works spiritually too. Stay with God, the light, and you'll always see the truth.

**The LORD Our Defender

          Today's Psalm reading comes from Psalm 124. It is most fitting for our times. David writes, "Had not the LORD been with us—when men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive, when their fury was inflamed against us. Then would the waters have overwhelmed us; the torrent would have swept over us, over us then would have swept the raging waters. Broken was the snare, and we were freed. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth." Historically, the enemies of the Lord had risen up against his people so overwhelmingly that it seemed that only the Lord could defend them. And defend them he did. We need to remember that last verse of the psalm: Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Let's realize and believe that God will always have our back.

***In Darkness or in Light

          Today is Feast of the Holy Innocents. In reading 1 from 1 John 1, the Apostle tells us that God is light and we must walk in his light to let the Blood of Christ cleanse us from all sin, and that if we do not acknowledge our sins, we make the Lord a liar. This is so true. If we continue sinning, we could end up in darkness for all eternity. I shudder at such a thought. Realizing that we are sinners is the beginning of seeing the light. Once we repent of our sins and have Christ take hem all away, we are fully in the light. I am explaining this at the most elementary level. If you still don't get it, then darkness must have totally blinded you.  

***God Knows It All!

        I knew of one deceased person, a very kind lady who was nice to everyone. I couldn't imagine that she could or would harm anyone. She's not well educated nor well off and worked at a lowly job all her life away from her own family. And no one really told her about Christ. There must be many others like her who do not know the Lord, but work hard and live humbly, not complaining about anything. I am certain that the Lord will be merciful to them. The Beatitudes Jesus gave to his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount tells us that blessed are the poor in spirit, they who mourn, the meek, they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the clean of heart, and the peacemakers. It shows that no matter who and what you are, the Lord will always treat you fairly and justly. It's so good that we have a Lord and God who know it all and has the answer to everything we need to know.