After telling the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus said, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Know that the Lord always wants to exalt us. So if we just cast off ourselves, we become free for him to exalt us. This is how we humble ourselves.
Sunday, October 23, 2022
**One Sure Great Reward*
What kind of reward in heaven do we seek from God the Father? Actually, everything he has will be ours. But one thing alone is plenty good enough for us, namely, that we'll be in his presence forever.
**Justification for Purgatory
Being saved and getting into heaven are two separate things. If we are saved, it doesn't mean that we are fit to go straight to heaven, for only the holy ones can enter heaven. Take two people A & B, both saved. Say A is 90% pure and B, only 10%. They both die—do they both go straight to heaven? Even if all their sins have already been forgiven, there is still a price to pay. This is where purgatory comes in. A will go thru some purification there before entering heaven, while B will suffer a lot more there. (As many do not believe in the existence of purgatory, I am just sharing my own belief here. If you have doubts, I recommend reading the book "Get Us Out of Here!!" on Maria Simma by Nicky Eltz.)
****Good Horrible Dream (A Warning)*
Early this morning, I had a horrible dream that finally woke me up. I won't go into specific details. Here's what I experienced in the dream. Someone offended me badly and I felt really hurt. Then I realized that I had hurt others in the past too, intentionally or not. The feeling you've been hurt can be horribly painful. This made me see that we are all hurting the Lord so much that we've got to stop. If we don't, we'll end up in hell forever and that would be the most horrible experience of all. I Shudder at the thought of it. So I am going to pray hard that every single one of us will know that God loves us and shall follow him and be saved. God can get us into heaven so easily if we just listen to and obey him. Please treat this matter most seriously! Please...
Saturday, October 22, 2022
**First Key to Peace*
In today's reading from Luke 13, Jesus called some people to repentance. He told them that if they do not repent, they will perish. Repentance is critically important to us sinners, for it refreshes and restores the soul, thereby reconciling us to God. We are so made by the Lord that without repentance, we'll never be able to experience true peace. Once the soul is safe, everything else just doesn't matter that much anymore.
Friday, October 21, 2022
***How to Increase Inner Peace
Just cut out whatever you see or hear that pulls you away from God. This is a gradual process that takes time to fine-tune, in concert with your spiritual progress. Such screening declutters the mind and leads to great inner peace.
**Earth vs. Heaven
On earth, on all physical, mental, and spiritual levels, we have negative forces working against us. On the physical level, we expend much energy in overcoming the gravitational pull alone. To make a living and to survive in our societies, we experience mental stress. And in the secular world, we need to constantly battle evil. In heaven, all such negative forces will be no more and we'll simply enjoy fully the love and presence of the heavenly Father.
**Only Way to Be Saved from Sin
To be in sin is like being stuck in a quicksand. If you try to get out of it, you only sink deeper. When you are stuck in sin, Christ is the only one who can pull you out of it to save you.
***Joy of Learning from God
You don't need to do any searches nor studying. Just open up your heart and listen like a kindergarten kid.
**Very Sad Sight
Looking at the world, you see so many people living as if God doesn't exist, hell doesn't exist, they are going to live forever, and there won't be any life after death if they die.
**Fact to Reckon With
That it is impossible for us to escape from the Lord God. Even if we become nonexistent, he still knows. (Personally, I am truly glad that he knows me well and that he watches over me, protects me from evil, and teaches and guide me, keeping me as the apple of his eye.)
**Our Golden Opportunity*
We all know that we are sinners and need salvation. If you realize that God has already paved the way for us to be saved by sacrificing his own Son on the cross in our place, then rejoice and accept Christ without reservation. This is truly a golden opportunity, the best God can possibly offer us. I beseech you not to be foolish and ignore it!
*****Die Once Only (A Warning)
Do you realize that we are all on our way to judgment? Each of us has two lives to live, but one or two deaths to undergo. The two lives are our life on earth and our afterlife. As for the death(s), those who are saved will experience only one death upon leaving the earth, but those who are not saved will die once more for all eternity.
**Part-Time Lord**
We Christians often live a double life—we behave like Christians at church on Sunday and are ourselves again until the following Sunday. That is, we put Christ in the back of our mind most of the time, making him a part-time Lord. This is far from being good, for he is to be the only one for us to live for every second of the day. I may sound harsh, but if he is not No. 1 in your life, the consequences will be a lot harsher.
***Why We Need Christ
Since we have inherited the original sin, we tend to sin. Then we are capable of doing good too, although sometimes that requires a bit of effort. If sinning is like sliding downhill, doing good is more like walking up a mild slope. What we need to do is to have Christ step in to liberate us from sin so that we'll be able to do good at all times. This ensures that we'll inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Thursday, October 20, 2022
Christ Our Shining Example
Christ is the perfect shining example for us to follow. He carried out the will of the Father to the letter with the greatest humility, never complained and did not stop until the task is accomplished. Our tasks given by the Lord are nothing compared to what Christ had to perform. Let him inspire us to do what we are supposed to do in the same spirit to show that we are with him all the way. And we'll also be glorified by the Father in the end.
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