life

When God Speaks

vangeLeave a comment

Whether you are Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, agnostic, atheist, etc. , God can or will speak to anyone. The Lord’s reach is not limited to a certain group of people, but if you hear from God, how do you know that it’s really God?

I just heard a story on the 700 club about a Muslim lady who became and atheist. She went through many hardships that she stopped believing in God. When she got to a point where she felt like killing herself, she kept hearing, “come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” She ended up sharing what she kept hearing to her Christian friend at work and her friend opened up the Bible and showed her that what her Muslim friend was hearing, is an actual scripture in the Bible.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

In can relate to that story because when I was seeking the Lord and I was questioning, God spoke to my heart like he did with the Muslim lady. God would speak to my heart about something, then I would randomly open up the Bible to any page and end up reading a scripture that followed what the Lord was just teaching me.

There is a reason that the Bible is called the Word of God. I know not everyone believes that Jesus is Lord, the Son of God or part of a triune God. It’s hard to understand the three in one idea. The Bible does associate Jesus with God in the first book of John. The Word is Jesus.

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

It can sound confusing, but essentially, Jesus is the Word and He was with God and Jesus was God. It goes on to creation and the beginning and Jesus or the Word coming into the world. Thus, He did and the first four books of the New Testament are stories that tell mostly about the last years of Jesus before He was crucified. Written by the disciples of Jesus, they have included words directly from Him. In some bibles, these word of His or in red text.

So how does one know when God speaks? Knowing the word of God is a major part of discerning. But one does not have to know the Bible for God to speak to them. There’s this guy named John Ramirez who was a warlock and he heard from Jesus. He heard from the devil everyday until one day he heard the voice of God asking him, “what are you going to go when your time comes?” This guy was adapted to hearing from the devil so when he heard the voice of God, he knew it wasn’t the same voice nor was the atmosphere in his house the same. It ended well and to make a long story short, he gave his heart to God and now he’s bringing many people in the dark, into the light of Christ.

I’ve heard many testimonies of atheist or Muslims who see Jesus in their dreams or who have had near death experiences and have seen or heard from Jesus. People in prison who have had visions of Him and their life gets changed forever.

When I was a practicing Catholic I never even touched the Bible. I thought it was for the older generation to read before meeting their creator. I tried to find flaws in it, but I was missing the big picture. So maybe the Old Testament has a some boring stories in their like the genealogy or the family tree, but if you are discovering the love of God, but having doubts, thinking, “why would God even care about me or know my name?” you might want to read the book of Psalms. There’s plenty of scriptures that reveal His love for us.

How precious are your thoughts about me,* O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

Psalms 139:17-18

Another book to read are the gospels, especially when Jesus gets crucified. That is a show of His love for all man kind. So maybe you feel like the God is speaking to you about something, you may want to check out the Word of God, aka, Bible. It is difficult to flip through pages and find stuff, but there are websites that have searches which make it easier to find things, one good one is Bible Gateway. Searching for the definition of a word in the dictionary is like searching for who God is in the bible.

God loves all.

Advertisement

The Flaw of a One World Religion

Image vangelifeblogLeave a comment
Photo from https://www.mediaoffice.abudhabi/en/arts-culture/opening-in-abu-dhabi-the-abrahamic-family-house-marks-20-percent-of-construction/

In the Persian Gulf, on Saadiyat Island of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, a center of worship for three different religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam is being built, to be completed this year. There are three buildings, one for each religion and at the center, an educational center for all. This complex of buildings is called the Abrahamic Family House, designed by architect, David Adjaye , set to be completed this year.

The Abrahamic House Family is not just a center with buildings, but a fraternity where members move towards global interfaith. Pope Francis and the Grand Imam Ahmad el-Tayeb signed a document to establish a human fraternity of religions.

You’ve probably seen the co-exist bumper sticker that spells out co-exist with symbols that represent different faiths. The Abrahamic House has a similar logo, only leaving out some faiths and enclosing it with a roof with chimney.

https://www.abrahamichouse.org/

The idea that religions can co-exist is nothing new at all in America since it’s something that’s been happening for so many years. We have buildings for all faiths where people from different religions come to worship their god and we’ve allowed it. This religious right is protected under the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the freedom for one to exercise his or her religion.

This is one of the things I love about the United States of America, our freedoms. Although my faith is in the salvation of Jesus dying on the cross for my sins, which I can never save myself from, I still hold strongly to the belief that people should freely practice their own religions. This might sound a bit crazy, but I believe that the God I worship, would want people to be able to choose their own religious path. If you read the Genesis 2: 15-17 in the bible. God tells Adam not to eat from the knowledge of good and evil. It wasn’t an apple tree, which most believe. It doesn’t say even say fruit, it just says tree and if you eat from it, you will die. God was not speaking of a physical death, but a spiritual death. The death that one feels inside due to sin, guilt, shame and most of all, separation from God. This sin that has the potential to lead one to eternal damnation.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 2: 15-17

Even though God told Adam not to eat from the tree, he still did and he also blamed Eve for it. After Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they realized that they were naked and hid from God. However, God already knew they disobeyed, yet He still went looking for them. He still wanted to connect with them. One may ask, if God did not want them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then why did he allow it to stay in the garden in the first place? Adam and Eve had the freedom to choose to obey or disobey. God knows the way we are wired, He created us. He knows what will bring us joy and what will bring us to emptiness and devastation. When we don’t listen to His commands, we hurt our-self. Sometimes when things are used for the wrong purpose, they can break.

Having being raised catholic, that was my religion. I went to church on Sundays religiously, dressed up and tried my best to pay attention to what the priest was saying. I thought that kissing the feet of a Jesus statue would earn me brownie points with God. I prayed almost every night, the rosary, in repetition or memorized verses, but I didn’t find out until later that God wanted to hear me speak my heart out to Him. I always knew that God existed. I just could not fathom the fact that He actually knows my name and loves me and created me to be loved by Him. It wasn’t that people told me, but I experienced His love through reading the bible that speaks of His love and His voice that spoke to my heart. That inner voice inside that saves you, brings conviction or brings hope, joy and peace is the still voice of God.

The effort of a one world religion is pointless. God is not a religion. Kissing a statue of Jesus is not worshiping God. God does not live in statues nor does he live in a stone. The bible says that God is spirit.

24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

John 4:24

This fraternity of all religions may lead to the compromise of beliefs of each and although it sounds like it would bring unity, which it may, it can evolve into a new religion which combines the beliefs of all faiths into one. The scary part about it, is that if it becomes a one world religion, everyone will be forced to follow it, which negates the whole idea of ones freedom to choose. Although, Jesus in the bible says that there is only one way to God, the Father, we have the freedom to choose whether we want to believe what Jesus said or follow Him.

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

We can choose our own path to finding the truth. With all honestly, after finding God through the bible and a real spiritual life-changing experience of God’s love, I’ve found the truth and there was no reason to look any further. When truth comes, doubt does not exist. God already loves us, His creation and He will never force us to love or follow Him. It is our choice whether we want to receive His love for us and love Him back. It is also our choice whether we want to follow His will and His ways. If God knows what will destroy us and tells us to stay away from it because He know what it will do to us, why not follow His voice?

The Value of Human Life

vangelifeblogLeave a comment
person holding an ultrasound scan photo
Photo by Lazaro Rodriguez Jr on Pexels.com

Throughout history there have been times where certain groups of people have been slaughtered. A person’s life was devalued according to their race or religion. Even today, news sources say that China is slaughtering the Uyghurs.

The Death Toll

Far surpassing in number are the deaths of babies in the womb. According to the World Health Organization, there are about 40-50 million abortions every year worldwide. Per the CDC, there were 619,591 abortions in 2018 and since 1979, 63 million.

The Profit

The abortion industry makes hundred of millions of dollars per year by selling abortions and receiving tax dollars of citizens from the government. Per Life News, Joe Biden gave the abortion industry $467.8 Billion dollars.

The Procedure

Upon aborting the baby, depending on what stage, a tube is used to suck out all the fluid. In later stages, an abortionist may have to pull the baby apart limb by limb, first sticking a needle to the head, then sucking up the rest of the pieces inside making sure no parts are left behind. All the while, the alive baby inside is dodging or fighting for it’s life.

There’s a movie called, Unplanned, a true story about a lady named Abby Johnson who worked for Planned Parenthood, moved to the top and after seeing an abortion take place on the monitor her whole perspective changed. She watched a baby inside the womb fight for its life. Shortly after, she left the abortion industry and is now a pro-life advocate.

When Life Begins

Pro-Choice people like to say “my body, my choice.” However, there’s another body involved, which is the body of a baby being formed inside. According to science, a new life is formed at fertilization. Scientist have captured a flash of light that occurs upon conception.

“The argument that this unique human being present in the mother’s womb from the moment of fertilization is a part of the mother’s body until sometime later in gestation is, from a scientific viewpoint, bizarre. What this argument would imply is that human beings reproduce by a process of budding, which is a process by which a new individual organism forms from a part of the mother’s body. This is the means of reproduction of some species of worms but it is most certainly not a means reproduction by human beings. This argument used by abortion proponents that an embryo or fetus is a part of the mother’s body until a certain point of gestation is scientific nonsense. When the argument is made by a scientist, it represents either scientific incompetence or deliberate deception. It is the responsibility of the scientific community to make it clear to the public that this argument is junk science and is obviously used merely to defend the morality of killing a young human being in the womb.”

Dr. Michael Egnor, Evolution News & Science Today

Life is not a Mistake

Even for us that were given life, our lives are not a mistake. God’s hand was already at work.

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13

Before we’re even born, God already had a plan for our lives. He already had a purpose set out for us.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

Psalm 139:16

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:5

Luke 1:15

John, the cousin of Jesus came into the world before Jesus to prepare a way for Him. God had already anointed John even before he was born.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

Luke 1:15

Before John was born, he was already familiar with the presence of Jesus.


When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:41

Hosea 12:3

The story of Jacob and Esau, twins that were trying to win over who would the first born child. Jacob, at birth was already holding onto the heel of Esau.


In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God.

Hosea 12:3

Roe s. Wade

Even if Roe v. Wade is overturned, women will still have a choice. Before pregnancy there’s abstinence, birth-control and protection. After pregnancy, there’s giving the baby up for adoption.

Overturning Roe v. Wade will still give the exemption of abortion if keeping the unborn baby will cause major physical harm to the mother. It would be tough for those women that got pregnant by the force of a man to keep it. Maybe the court would make that exemption or not, however just because the father was a monster, it doesn’t mean that the child would be as well. There are numerous people that were conceived through rape that have made a major positive impact in society like Jesse Jackson and others.

Pro-choice people seem to believe that a woman’s choice to terminate the life of a baby growing inside of her in empowering, yet it only shows fear. Power is of the Lord enabling a woman to overcome the fear of the unknown, to examine the challenges and obstacles, yet find ways to make it work, seek resources and be the hero of a voiceless precious life inside that’s counting on you to protect it. Power is pushing through the tough times and coming out alive and praising God on the other side. Looking back at a point of life that seemed hopeless, but coming out on the other side blessed and victorious.

Thinking about what Mary, the mother of Jesus had to go through. If people found out that she was engaged, yet she became pregnant and Joseph was not the father, she would have been stoned to death. At the same time, King Herod was looking around for the location of baby Jesus wanting to kill him and sent three wise men to search for his location.

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

Matthew 2:16

Joseph and Mary had to flee from city to city before and after Jesus was born. Mary had to give birth in a barn. You’d think that God would make it easy for her, but she kept her faith and carried through with her calling and God kept them safe.

Even if a baby is given up for adoption, at least you gave the her/him a chance to live and someone an opportunity to be a mom or a dad.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 127:3-5

Love than Religion

vangeLeave a comment

There are many types of religions in the world, most commonly: Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Judaism, Mormonism, Hinduism and Christianity. Most involve prayer, worship, bowing, singing or offerings. Others have rituals, which they believe would set them up to a higher level of spirituality. All these efforts to make one believe that through certain actions, they will become holy, a good or better person or pleasing to the eyes of God. There’s usually a set of rules or boundaries that set a line not to cross or actions that must be carried out tied to consequences.

The continual trying to be perfect on our own humanly efforts can turn into our religion and trapped us into residual traditions often wondering where is revival? Without knowing our Creator, how do we know where He has placed the true switch of joy? Do we keep believing that our religious traditions will save us? Of all religions in the world, how do we know which one is true or which God is real or fake?

The truth lays inside of each of us, mended into the fabric of who we are created to be. God placed it there before we came out into the world. Unfortunately, when we get older and corrupted by our environment, it eventually gets hidden. Truth is found when there’s no way of denying it. Sometimes it’s hard to know if it’s God speaking, especially when so many lies spoken have been dwelling inside for many years, yet He still speaks.

Aside from the bible or religious books, there are stories of people who had encounters with God, some that wrote about it and have become the basis of a religion, but what about the time when there were no books published in the world, yet there were still stories of God’s mighty hand or visitations from angels or God? People spoken about in these stories had a relationship with God. They knew God and were in communion with Him. God spoke in dreams, visions, by an angelic messenger or a burning bush. Still to this day, God speaks in dreams, visions, angelic messengers, by audible voice, a voice inside and sometimes through events, strangers or friends, but not a burning bush.

Religious traditions are mostly good practices, as the bible says in James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” However, besides doing or not doing certain things to keep ourselves feeling a certain way, what’s more important is our relationship with God. Think about all the things you do for the one you love, imagine never spending time with that person just caught up in the job of trying to please them, but never spending quality time, opening up your heart, talking to them and telling them how thankful you are, how much you love them or sharing your sorrows. Spending time talking to someone will get you very antiquated with their voice and character. Similarly, building a relationship with God is spending time in prayer, thanking God for the littlest things, sharing your sorrows and requests and worshiping Him. Sometimes, it’s a matter of just sitting and listening.

How do we know it’s the voice of God? He speaks to our heart and the bible confirms it. Image God speaking to different people and revealing who He is, then all of those people wrote it and down and just so happened to write the same or very similar thing about Him. Similar to the stories in the bible, God appears to people, there are different people spoken about that had a relationship with God and wrote about it. The stories reveal His character as a Father in Heaven. The book of Psalms 103:1-5, reveals God the Father’s love for us,”Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The book of Romans reveal the Christ, the Son of God’s love for us. Romans 8: 35-39 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There are many other scriptures that speak of God’s love and throughout the bible we see His character. God is love. Romans 5:8 says,”8 God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Of all the many religions in the world and gods that people worship, Jesus is the only one that came down to earth from heaven, in human form, to be nailed to a cross and die for the sin of humanity so that we can once again, have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. As Adam and Eve hid from God in the garden after they sinned, we no longer have to hide from God as our sins our taken away from the blood of Jesus on the cross, we can come face to face with Him again, unashamed. We don’t have to go through a ritual or run miles making efforts to be good or right with God, salvation is a love gift from God and having faith in His love, goodness, mercy and grace is what frees us and makes us more like Him. It’s a relationship, not a religion. It starts with inviting God into your heart, confessing and believing. Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Emotionally Vulnerable In the Right Hands

vangelifeblogLeave a comment

Some may believe that life is about accumulating saying, “whoever dies with the most toys wins,” yet the Bible says otherwise, it’s the bold truth that never leaves your face. You can run and hide from the truth, but it always seems to catch up and find you.

The truth of the matter is that life is more than collecting tangible items, as God’s greatest commandment is in Matthew 22:36-39 KJV, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

For some, emotions are like a volcano waiting to explode, yet others, like the ice sitting in Antartica, frozen for millions of years slowly melting away. Being vulnerable can be scary sometimes as it can bring about two extreme opposite results. If you can’t handle the worst result, you may hold yourself back to receiving the best. But my oh my, it’s a sad thing when our emotions get attached to the wrong people or things as they are here today and gone tomorrow…or maybe just eventually. Even if someone stays in your life for so long, no one lives forever. So why attach ourselves? We are bound to love our neighbor, basically, be in communion with other beings.

However, there can be seasons where people have failed us, for some that season never ends, and so we’ve placed our faith to bring about happiness in our lives through things or other non-human beings. Although pets bring much joy, entertainment and companionship, human interaction is still a part of the livelihood of our soul.

For many without pets, money or other tangible items become the reliance for joy, like that new car, new watch or purse, but we all know, that high doesn’t last for too long. We know material items can never love us back.

Then there’s money, probably the number one on most of everyone’s list. It can be the fuel to fulfilling the emptiness inside of us with material items and if that’s not enough, mind or mood altering substances.

After toiling trying to fill that empty hole inside that seems to grow larger, we repeat the same actions, only to realize for the hundredth time that it still leaves us all the more empty.

So why keep doing it? For the many things or people we can loose, we can never loose God and He will never leave us. Which is why, above all things we can subject our own vulnerable emotions in the hands of God and who better than the one that lives forever, the incorruptible, the one who will never leave us or forsake us who’s love for us is always unconditional. He never changes.

So the next time you think you can’t live without someone or something, ask yourself, is your heart in God’s hands? That is where it will be protected. Scared of your emotions? Let God have all of it and give a small portion of it to whom the Lord chooses.

Hard Times for Preparation

vangelifeblogLeave a comment

I try to recall the times I felt like life was beating me up, when times got so tough I’d try to not allow myself to stay beat down and now just getting off another roller-coaster. With Christ, I can lift up my hands and know that He has me grounded.

When times get tough, I try to remember that it’s just an obstacle course. There’s falling on your face and being humiliated and sometimes emotionally crushing, but the hand that pulls me out of it is the saying, “God is good all the time.”

If I had to climb a 70 foot mountain, days later, a 30 foot mountain would not be a big deal. I have to remember that God’s love is also allowing us to go through hardships, only to make us better fighters, being able to take on harder circumstances thrown at us.

The Bible says in Philippians 1:6 NKJV
[6] “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

As sometimes we may walk away from where the Lord leads because we may feel we can’t, unable or may not identify ourselves with it, but to remember that there’s one that knows us more than we know ourselves, our creator. As a way to prepare you for the blessing He has for you, sometimes it requires hardship. Then & years later looking back and saying, “I get it.”

Thankful in a Storm

vangelifeblogLeave a comment

It’s Thanksgiving Day and something is resonating within me that’s pulling me in completely opposite directions, faith or fear. Despite the distress in my soul, I’m thankful with hope for the future. About ten years ago, I thought I might die. I remember crying out to the Lord in my distress. That night I had a dream that I was carrying a backpack full of currency from around the world, later realizing that I was an old lady in my dream, around the 70s. God knows I’ve always had the desire to travel the world before I leave this earth. That dream was a confirmation that I would be fine and soon after, physically, I was fine.

There’s been many times in my life where I’ve felt so blessed, walking on clouds with everything working out for me, but life always has it’s storms, some that can drive one to the ground just waiting to die, but I can honestly say that if God’s hand wasn’t there to pull me out, I’m not sure where I’d be today. Even in the toughest times, I know that I’ll get through it because my life is in the hands of a good God.

I’ve had my share of lonely times having spent some holidays alone, feeling like the world is against me or completely misunderstood. Even though harsh seasons come, the sun will eventually come out. At times it feels like the hard season will never end, but I have to trust God through the season, even if it doesn’t make any sense. I know He’s shaping me through the flame as fire pulls out the impurities of gold making it rise to the surface.

What I’m most thankful for today is my Lord and Savior Jesus, without Him, I would be dead on the inside, lifeless, empty and without hope. Because of Him, I don’t have to fear the future as He will give me the strength and tools that I need to take on the storms of life as they come and always be my backbone. I’m thankful for life and good health. I’m thankful that during uncertainty, I can put my faith on a faithful God full of mercy and grace.

I pray that HOPE, JOY and PEACE will come to anyone struggling to be thankful today, but to have hope for the future and to know that they’re not alone, God that you let them know that you are there with them and that they are loved by you, God that you would let them see the light after the storm and bring healing to their soul. In Jesus name.