Happy birthday part 2...

God has blessed me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ; and as if that was not enough, He has blessed me with an awesome family and awesome friends.  I just got up from taking a brake on my bed, for which I am extremely grateful, and while I was laying there resting my achy back, I started thinking of all the good friends God has blessed me with.

This is basically the continuation of my last post, it should be.  My best friend, Eutychus, had me over for a barbecue on Sunday, and I got blessed; I had some of the best food I have gotten in a long time, and his daughter made me a cake, every one sang the happy birthday song, and I got a bunch of love, just like in the old days.  I was supposed to go to dinner with my daughters on Monday but I got a horrible tooth ache, so we had to re-schedule it; then  the day after, my grand daughter gave me a happy birthday card, she makes me one every time, with her own pictures and her own words; this one says: "Dear Grandpa, I hope you have the best, most amazing, spectackulor birthday.  May all your wishes come true.  I love you.  Once again happy birthday. Heart you.  Te amo! (I love you)"; yeah, she translated it for me just in case I don't know Spanish, then she drew a picture of a computer keyboard with a mouse connected to it.  I forgot that my tooth hurt.

That is the best birthday present I got, that it was the only one doesn't matter, I got blessed; that little girl doesn't have an idea of how I felt after she gave me that hand-made card, even though I tried to demonstrate it to her by hugging and kissing her with all my heart.

Last year this is what she wrote: "Someday everything will make perfect sense, so for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.  Happy birthday.  I love you. May all your wishes come true.  Love, Jasmin"  That card had a drawing of a birthday cake on the front, and a cross on the inside with the words "God loves you".  I don't need presents, or cards after that one.

Just a few minutes ago I received an email from my cousin's wife saying that her brother is out of intensive care, and she was thanking me for praying for him; I don't remember if I told you, but when this trial started for her, I sent her an email and shared the gospel with her; and we all have been praying for her brother, now she is giving glory to God for his miraculous recovery, the doctors do not understand what happened, but we do; God is extremely good to us.  I'm praying they will all be saved.  If you remembered to pray for him, I thank you.

As I got up this afternoon and was stretching the blanket over my bed, I stood there looking at the bed, and I felt so grateful to have a place to lay down, I almost cried; then I saw the weather forecast, and the same thing happened, I just started to be thankful for having shelter from the elements, and then I think about all the people who love me, even a little bit, and I am very grateful that God has given me such wonderful people to share my life with.  What makes me extremely grateful is the fact that I know what kind of human I am, and even then God blesses me beyond all expectations; He really blows my mind how good He is with me.

Regardless of the constant pain and physical discomforts I go through every day, I am at peace knowing that God is in control of all things, I rest in that fact, to know that all things are working together for my good, even my stupid decisions are turned around for the glory of God, I am a blessed man indeed.

So rejoice with me in this, which I just read in Isaiah,  Isa 26:1-9  In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy."
The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.
In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Happy birthday to me because I am learning righteousness.

And so are you, have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

happy birth day...

I just had another birth day, and I was soberly reminded that my life is just a vapor that rises and disappears in a moment.  If I take my eyes off of Jesus then everything becomes totally vain, it all turns into toil and disappointment; sometimes it all seems vain anyway, but it all gets worse when my attention is fixed on me.

I have never considered my birth day as a festive occasion; I wasn't raised like that.  The first birthday I can ever remember, I was about 3 or 4 years old, and every one around me seemed to be happy that I was there, mom made me a cake and put some candles on it, every one sang las mananitas, and I blew the candles off, then the party was over; I never saw confetti or banners, and I never got a card or a present; all I got was love, and that was enough for me.  It is still enough, and more.

Life went on, and every year was the same thing, there was nothing special about that day, February 24th has always been the same, just a regular day in which my oldest brother was born too, just 10 years earlier; and then one day I started looking forward to being 18 years old.  I knew it was at that point when I would be free to do anything I wanted, but I was deceived because I didn't do anything I wanted, I did what had to be done; I was forced by the circumstances to work and go to school, I had a lot of fun in those years, God was merciful to me.

The most important birth day now is Jesus' birth day, every day I should be reminded that the most important person ever to exist decided to put on human flesh to accomplish a rescue mission, and redeem His wife, who was given to Him by the Father of Lights, in a sense everyday should be Christmas.

Birth days are a clear reminder of my mortality, and the beginning of my existence; they remind me that one day I will die, and that day I will be faced with the most high God.  To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, clothed in an alien righteousness, giving all glory to God, my creator.  Birth days remind me that I did not even make a choice to be born, God made me, in the moment He wanted, and He put me in the place He wanted, in the family He wanted; and He is the one who brought me to Him, He is the one who sought me when I was not looking for Him; these are good reminders to be had in your birth day.

God has blessed me during all my life, when I look back in time and see all the times that His hand is displayed intervening in all my circumstances; the most mind blowing and mind bending things have been seen by my own eyes, like God answering my daughter's and my prayers in half an hour; that has really happened to me; I can probably tell you many stories about God's providence being manifested in my life, and to me, those are incredible faith building events, straight from the hand of God.  I see His glory being displayed in those times.

How about you?  You probably know what I'm talking about because the same is true for you, if you look very carefully you will see His power in action, even in your very times of distress; if you do, you will bring Him glory because He has chosen you, you will have no other option.

So, happy birth day to you too.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

I marvel...

I started writing a post that is turning into a story, almost, I have been writing for days, I write and I stop, and then a new day comes and it is still there waiting for me to finish it, I really don't think that I will ever publish it.  Right now I don't have any inclinations to finish it; that is the story of my life, it seems.  I start something, get sidetracked and it becomes a 'pending' item on the ever growing list of things I need to finish, the list is filed right next to the regrets one, I think it is some kind of sickness.  Maybe is men's menopause, maybe is just depression, maybe it is just that I lack commitment, or maybe it is spiritual warfare, or oppression; maybe is all of the above at the same time.  I have problems.

Lately I get easily frustrated with life in general, I see the vanity of it all; many times I complain that things don't go the way I want them to go, as if it was something new; I am afraid to make any plans, and of course I don't have any goals.  I wonder how many people go through the same things as I do, and I wonder how many of those people are my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I will give you an example of what I'm talking about; my insurance company wants a bunch of forms filled out from me and my doctor, I have to provide them before 21 days and they requested them on Jan 28th, so I make sure to take the forms to the doctor's appointment because the insurance company pays my bills every month; two days before my doctor's appointment they called from their office and told me they were rescheduling my appointment two hours later, okay no problem; I go to the doctor, and he is in a hurry since he just lost a couple of people, so he can't fill the form at that time, I had to provide instructions to another person to fill the form, and she looks like she is not paying attention.  I leave the office to go to the pharmacy, I give the girl my prescriptions and 15 minutes later she says they don't have my meds, that's a problem, "I don't know what to tell you", how about calling another Rite Aid and see if they have them?

Okay, Telegraph Canyon has them, so there I go, when I get there everything is okay but one of the prescriptions has to be authorized, really?  Yeah, they have to call the insurance company to reverse the charge that Rite Aid in Bonita had already made because the system shows that it has already been dispensed, ok.  I call the insurance company to try to speed the process (are you tired of it yet?), they guy is a jerk, they finally got it authorized; okay so I'm going to get some ice cream since it is only one buck at Rite Aid, chocolate, the ATM card terminal doesn't work, mmmmm I don't even have one dollar cash plus tax, okay, do it manually lady, 10 minutes later I'm eating ice cream sitting there waiting; finally I get my meds and get out of there.  This is all weirded out, I'm praying the whole time not to scream; so I go home, and I think "I'm going to take the short cut", take east J to 4th avenue, but guess what, the kids are getting out of school, so the street is backed up and there is no where to turn.  4 Hours after the doctor's office I get home, and this pops in my brain: "this is a fallen world".

The whole day since I woke up (at 7:30, can you believe that?....something must be seriously wrong with me) has been weird, I can't find my left shoe, my right sock is backwards, I'm dropping things in the kitchen, I forgot to set the coffee maker last night so there is no coffee ready, my eyes are watering like crazy and I can't see anything, it's almost like I slept with my eyes opened; and then I start remembering some people who made my life miserable for quite some time at work, (this is about 10 years ago), I can't pray since I'm getting pissed off and I'm repenting all at the same time, and I need coffee.  The black cabinet is about to explode, remember the black cabinet?  Yeah, that one.. The first hour of the day is gone and I'm in a bad mood, then I start thinking about my mom having surgery tomorrow, and I start getting anxious; I remember my cousin's brother in the hospital and I feel sad for them, then I get a text from Eutychus saying his brother in law is in the hospital, and it all makes me remember our nothingness and how exposed to danger we constantly are, and the vanity of this world; of course I start praying and crying out to God for help.

God helps me and then I see the reality of things.  I see how God took me out of the darkness and translated me into the kingdom of His dear Son; when I carefully examine the chain of events that my life has been, I see the hand of God in every single event in my life (including the little events), from the place and family I was born into, to who my brothers were, who my parents were, who my teachers were, what kind of schools I went to, the places I have traveled to, the people I have met, who my friends are, the places I have lived in, the kind of children I have, my grand kids, my back problems, my vices, my struggles, etc.  God has been involved in everything that has happened, every singe day of my life has been designed by Him (I take responsibility for the sinful acts though); I know my patience was being exercised today, and now I am giving Him the glory for adopting me as His child.

The apparent paradox is that it seems that I have caused everything to happen the way it happened, I see all my decisions, all the good ones, and all the bad ones, and it seems that I was the one in control when I made them; but looking at reality, I see that it was God working behind the scenes all along; He is the one who moved me, even without me knowing Him; this is His providence.  I marvel at this kind of thoughts.

Yes, life is a marvel of God's grace, it is amazing grace.  The more time goes by, the more I see the grace of God working in my life; all the events that were out of my control had been determined by God in advance, and I marvel again, and again.  I am satisfied when I think this way, thinking and believing and knowing that God is in control of all things, and that all things are working together for my good, it all gives me a sense of being secure in His hands.  The sovereignty of God is for sure the remedy for all worry and anxiety, so I need huge doses of it; even the thoughts I am having about God being sovereign have been planted there by Him living in me and through His word, it cannot be any other way since my human heart has no ability to imagine this kind of thing on its own, and I marvel again.

So if your days are not going the way you think they are supposed to be going, look at them from the divine perspective and remember in whom you have believed; He is able to make you stand in that glorious day regardless of your current situation, and marvel with me.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Mom's eye surgery...

Just a quick post, more of a request, my mother is having eye surgery this Friday and I am requesting you to pray for her, her name is Daisy.  I just got off the phone with her and she sounded a little anxious.  My mom is a very healthy woman for her age, she has never had any surgeries of any kind, so you can imagine how she feels, I would feel anxious if I was in her shoes, mostly being 82 years old.

She has cataracts in both eyes, she was told a couple of weeks ago when she went to get a new pair of glasses, they wouldn't make the glasses without her going to the ophthalmologist; she went, got checked, and she was told she needs surgery, so they scheduled her for Friday at 7 am.  Thank God that she has full medical insurance and she will not have to pay a cent, so that is a good thing.

Also pray for me, if you please, I get nervous just to hear that she will be with just a friend at the surgery, I wish I could just take a plane and be there with her.  She will call my sister in law and check if she can come down and help her out during the recovery period, so pray that will happen also.

What do we do when we need help?  We cry out to God for His mercy and grace; He is the only one who can really help, and beckons us to ask of Him what He alone can do; so I'm praying for peace in her heart and mind, for a speedy recovery, and for the doctor's hands and eyes and tools etc.  May God's will be done.  I will keep you posted as to what happens, and thank you in advance for your prayers, thank you very much.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The future bliss...

Sanctification is a gift from God.  It is a purifying fire.  Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer in Christ; a work in which the regenerate person is changed from one degree of glory to another, always in the vertical direction and up towards heaven; the ultimate goal of this work is to change the one who is indwelt by the Spirit, and who lives in this world, into the image of Christ ; which means that sanctification is a work of God in the time domain, since sanctification will  not be necessary after death.  To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, Paul says, and to be in the presence of the Lord requires perfection because God cannot have any fellowship with any one who is not perfect or who is tainted by sin; God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all, so He works to sanctify us and to make us partakers of His holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

When did this sanctification start?  It started in the moment of the new birth, at the moment of regeneration by The Spirit of God; regeneration is essentially the starting point of sanctification.  Paul says in Ephesians that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, given as a deposit, or down payment of the purchased possession: Eph 1:13-14  "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory".  The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, he says, what is this inheritance?  To live forever in a state of complete sanctification, meaning, to be like Jesus and live with Him forever; outside of the time domain; it is to be like Jesus, with Jesus, reigning and owning all things with Him.

This is the reason Paul continues to pray for the Ephesians, he prays that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, that He would open the eyes of their understanding so that they could see, and understand, what this inheritance is; he says "what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places"; not only does Paul wants them to understand their inheritance but also the power that is at work in them, which is the same power that is at work in us who believe.

This power, Paul says, that raised Christ from the dead, is the same power that is at work in us who believe; Peter says that this power of God is being exerted in us through the faith with which He is keeping us until the very last day of our lives; this is a revealed mystery, and this is the wonder of it all, Christ in us, the hope of glory.  This inheritance is God Himself in us, and we in Him, without the darkness of the flesh, or the human heart.  This is the reason why Paul blesses God in chapter 1 verse 3:  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and goes on to say why.  Have you read that book lately?  It is awesome, and it changes our perception of how things really are in this life.

There is only one book that reveals what the mystery of godliness is, it is of course the bible; but the reason I'm saying this is because this very source of truth, of total and perfect, and holy truth that is the word of God, is veiled to those who are perishing; when I think about that fact, it makes me tremble in fear of who God is; I see Him as the awesome totally righteous judge He is, and this fear makes me run to Jesus for refuge; that is when I see that without Christ I would perish forever; if I had to face God as judge I would have nothing to cover my iniquity, and my sins, and my braking the law with, I am totally exposed to His wrath without Jesus.  Without Him I'm toast.

"I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ", Pauls says in Philippians, this is the work of sanctification that was begun by God, He will be faithful to finish the work.  One day, when our day to meet God comes, we will be ready to face Him, we can count on that as a fact of this Christian life, God always finishes what He starts, and He started a "good work"; all His works are good for that matter, and He does all things well.

Do you see what's happening in your life?  God is at work, that is what is happening, God is working in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure; this is pure grace.  What happens during sanctification?  God works in you to change you into the image of His Son so that He can have fellowship with you forever; that is what brings joy to God, the exposition of His glory through the praise of His grace; and unspeakable joy for us who are being changed.  God dwells in us by His Spirit, and He moves our hearts in whatever way He pleases, having circumcised our hearts He puts righteous desires in it (from His Holy Spirit), and makes sure that those desires come to fruition by the mighty power He exerts in us; and even the bad things that happen, the things that are contrary to our desires and even the very wrong desires we actually have (from the flesh, obviously), they all work together for good to those who love God and have been called according to His purpose, His purpose being that we become like Jesus, His purpose is our inheritance in a sense.

There is in the book of Romans what the theologians call the 'golden chain' of salvation; you probably already know what I'm talking about, it is stated in Rom 8:28-31  "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"  Do you see it?  Predestination, calling, justification and glorification.

It appears as if Paul forgot about sanctification in that statement, doesn't it?  But it is there, actually in every step; think about it and you will see what I'm talking about; sanctification is a like nice little golden bow on the packaged gift of salvation; I think it is a beautiful thing..

They call it the golden chain because there are no weak links in it, it is unbreakable for sure, and those 4 links hold everything together from the beginning to the end of our histories, salvation will not work without any of those links, God set it up that way before the foundation of the world; every single link has been forged in the furnace of God's grace; the clasp is "if God is for us, who can be against us?"  One day I'm gong to make a bracelet designed around those 4 links, with a cool clasp that says "God is for me".

The amazing thing about all this, mainly about sanctification, is that God is the One who does it from the beginning to the end; yes, even against our own will, actually that phrase "against our own will" is a contradiction, I should say 'even with our own will'; this whole process is a mysterious process that no one can really understand, the mechanics of how all this happen are veiled to our eyes, all we see is that we have changed over the years, we are not the same persons we were before we were regenerated by God; Paul says it clearly in 2Cor. 5:17 "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new", that is another one of those statements that blow my mind; God sees me as a new person because I am in Christ.

One more thing, and you already know about this because every preacher at one point says it; that golden chain is all in the past tense, meaning that it is all considered as if it already happened; this is one of those things that belong in the secret ordination of God.  When God decrees something, it happens due to the fact that God's decrees are irrevocable, He never makes mistakes; the same applies to His foreknowledge, the fact that He foreknows something makes it impossible for it not to happen, no matter what it is, and in this case, He has foreknown us to be His from eternity; I can go no further or beyond what the bible says, but in my opinion, what the bible says, God says, and that is enough.

One thing I also know, by experience and by what the bible says, sanctification hurts sometimes, that is what trials and tribulations are for; and it hurts mostly in our pride, and our natural arrogance, and as Calvin says, our petulance; our being sanctified causes deep pain in the mind, and sometimes even in the body; sanctification is suffering, and living through circumstances and events that brake away our comfort zones; the human heart is naturally wicked and perverse and it hates change, mostly when the change has to do with our pride; but what is a little suffering compared to what awaits us?  Paul puts it like this: "for I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us"; yeah, our sufferings are not even worthy to be compared to what God has prepared for those who love Him.

So, do you feel the pain?  I do, every day for sure, but encourage yourself and strengthen your feeble knees and meditate on what God is doing; look at it from God's perspective, and all you will see is glory, unending glory and true bliss in His presence.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com