Invest in your marriage

What do you want to improve in your life? Invest in it. To what you give to, it increases. To what you don't give to, it decreases. Normally we just give to the professional area: school, college, and other studies that usually aim to improve our professional capacity so we can make a good living. That's a necessary thing to do, but most people fail in improving another area that's even more important: marriage.

Many of the problems a family faces, and normally the ones that hurt the most, are in this area; and also it is one that most of us invest in the least, if there is any investment at all. This is one of the main reasons of the failure in marriage nowadays, because to what you don't give to, it decreases.

What's the solution? Invest in your marriage! Because to what you give to, it increases!

Those that enjoy a great marriage, it's not because they were lucky, but because they knew how to invest in it.

How do we invest in our marriage? Reading books, going to seminars, getting a mentor, listening to teachings. Doing all of these is TO GIVE to your marriage, therefore, your marriage will improve, you'll become a better husband/wife. Your spouse and children will thank you!

Do this continually. For example, if you finished a book on how to be a better husband, don't wait a year to start another one! The investment in your marriage has to be constant. Consistency is the key!

Being a better husband/wife is one of the things that's going to give you more fulfillment than any other thing. It's much more rewarding than being successful in your finances. So, in a weekly basis, sacrifice two or three our hours of something, like social media, TV or any other leisure. No having time its a just lame excuse. You do have time! It just matter of wanting it enough.

If you are a husband/wife, or if you are in a relantioship with somebody, or even if you are single dating no one, prepare yourself to be a better husband/wife starting now. Invest yourself in that area. Don't let yourself to be taught by movies, or by friends and family that, even though they want the best for you, they are just going to be telling you things out of their experience, which, in many cases, are not necessarily right. Follow the example and teaching of those that you admire in that area, of those of which you want to be like. Remember this: fill yourself of what you want to come out of you. That knowledge won't come to you by chance, it has to be sought.

Hope it helps!!

A Plan for my Juan Pablo

When my Juan Pablo was 4 (I think so), he had a vision. We were at home and his mom was taking him to the bathroom holding his hand when we noted that his eyes were fixed to a specific spot above the mirror. I thought he saw a spider or something, but since I couldn't see anything, I asked him: "what are you looking at?" He pointed with his little finger and answered: "I see the Father sitting with Jesus." His mom and I looked to each other amazed. We were astonished not only because for what we just heard, but also for his way to refer to God and also for knowing that Jesus is seated to His side.

We asked him: "and, what does the Father tell you?" Juan Pablo said: "He tells me that His hand is upon my dad and mom."

We were just happy, but we didn't know what to conclude, so we received the word spoken in the vision and followed Jesus's mother example Mary: we treasure up all this in our hearts (Luke 2:19).

A while later, Juan Pablo started suffering of nightmares. Frequently Juan Pablo cried in the middle of the night for having a bad dream. Sometimes for many nights in a row! We prayed so he may be freed from those nightmares declaring over him the Word that says that our dreams will be sweet (Proverb 3:24). Nowadays, very rarely he has nightmares, but we are still praying until it's finished completely.

Two days ago my Juan Pablo came to me to tell me that he had a dream. "What did you dream of?", I asked him. He told me that he was crossing a street and, all of a sudden, a car hit him but that he was ok.

"Oh, that was so good!", I just told him, and then he left. Then I sensed that Jesus told me the meaning of that dream, so I rapidly called him back and told him that Jesus just told me the meaning of his dream. "It doesn't matter the things that can happened to you, I am with you, and that's why you are going to be Ok." Juan Pablo smiled and left.

I stayed thinking and finally tied up loose ends. "A vision, nightmare attacks, a dream", I thought. "My Juan Pablo definitely has a spiritual gift and the devil wants to destroyed him".

I thanked my heavenly Father for reminding me that He has a plan for my Juan Pablo and asked Him for wisdom to know how to rightly prepare him for that plan. We don't know exactly what he will be in the future but we do know that the gifts that Jesus gave him equip him for a ministerial area.

Don't do your own plans for your kids's lives. Remember that they were in their real heavenly Father's heart before the foundation of the earth, and He chose you so you may guide them and prepare them to live the life He has prepared for them. And that life is MUUUUCH better than what we can ever plan for them! Each and every gifts and talents they have will be the tools to live that life to the fullest. Don't quit praying asking for wisdom and direction to prepare them to live that plan.

I hope this may help you!

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For more teachings and tips for parents, take a look to the following link: Enseñanzas para Padres (Teaching for Parents). The teachings are in English and Spanish.

Some of the titles you'll find are:

• Do not Turn Off your Kids Imagination: When my kids play, they leave a mess, and I learnt that more important than just telling them to put everything back in its place is to get interested in what was in their imagination.
• A Way to Curse your Children: Without realizing I was bounding my kids with my words. Do not make the same mistake.
• The Power that Jesus gave to my Son: A testimony on how my Juan Esteban was set free from nightmares.
• The Honor to Be a Parent: Learn that accepting the honor of being a parent brings more personal fulfillment that achieving all your goal and dreams.

Rebuke the Wind and the Sea will Appease

The account of Jesus calming the storm is told mentioning a detail in particular in the Gospel of Mark: that Jesus didn't rebuke the sea, but the wind (Mark 4:39). This is because the wind was what provoked the big waves that covered the boat. In other words, Jesus dealt with the cause of the problem and not just with the problem itself.

The disciples weren't afraid of the furious wind but of the waves, because the waves swamped the boat (Mark 4:37) and they could sink and drown. The disciples looked at the raising waves and how they fell on the boat and their hearts filled with fear. They didn't looked at the invisible force behind the raising of the sea waves, but their focus was on the sea. Jesus didn't only deal with the problem (the waves), but also with the cause of it (the wind).

Check what Mark 4:37 says in the New King James Version, "And a great windstorm arose." Jesus knew what the real essence of the storm was: the wind. The disciples didn't. They thought that their only problem was the sea waves. They didn't realize that if Jesus didn't rebuke the wind and just said to the wind to be calmed, it was just matter of time for the waves to raise up again. That's why He rebuked the wind first, and then calmed the sea.

Have you recognize what is the real essence of the storm you go through? Maybe you're only watching "the waves that fall on your boat" which fill you up with fear, but don't see what provoke those waves. Maybe you say:
- My problem is my son's nightmares, but you don't focus on what causes those nightmares.
- My problem is my debts, but you don't focus on the bad habits that cause those debts.
- My problem is the estrangement with my spouse, but you don't focus on what causes that estrangement.
- My problem is that I'm sickly, but you don't focus on your eating habits and lack of exercises that cause those sicknesses.
- Etc., etc., etc.

Proverbs 26:2 states that causeless curse doesn't come. Rather than bury yourself in the symptoms, deal with the cause of them. Stop wasting time and energy solving the same problem again and again, and rather use that time and energy to deal with the causes of that problem.

Maybe you've been dealing for long time only with the problem, but not with the cause of it. That's why it constantly appears! If you want to get rid of that problem once and for all, ask for help to your heavenly Father so that He may help you to recognize what you are doing or maybe what you are expose to, which provokes the problem, and of course, ask wisdom to finally get rid of it.

Hope this may helped you!

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I'm sure that these following links about more faith and grace teachings will help you:

• Believe that You'll TAKE it, and it'll Come: Learn how to receive what you are asking God for.
• Rest from Yourself: Learn that we should stop trying to win our good Heavenly Father's favor, and just rest.
• Focus on what your Heavenly Father Does: Sometimes we think that God is solving the problems that the devil makes, but it's actually the opposite way: the devil is trying to ruin the blessings that God has created for you.

On your way to Fulfill the Vision God gave you

You, that have received a vision from God, can learn a great deal from Joseph's testimony so you won't commit the same mistakes he did, because if Joseph would've known a series of elements proper to the vision that comes from God, surely he would've saved himself many bad moments.

WHEN the vision was going to be fulfilled
Joseph didn't know when God planned his vision to be fulfilled. By the excitement shown when he told his brothers about the vision (Genesis 37:5-11), surely Joseph thought that it'd be fulfilled within few days, maybe weeks, but it wasn't, because his vision was fulfilled 20 years after he received it!

Have you received a vision from your heavenly Father that hasn't been fulfilled yet? Wait for it, because though it tarries, it will surely come! (Habakkuk 2:3) It doesn't matter if you received it many years ago, your Father was faithful in putting that vision in your heart and will be faithful in fulfilling it! Remember, He is the Author and the Finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2).

WHERE the Vision was going to be fulfilled
Joseph didn't know neither where the vision was going to be fulfilled. Surely he thought that it was going to be fulfilled right there where he was in Canaan, but it wasn't; it was fulfilled in Egypt, a different land, with a different culture, beliefs, costumes and language.

Unless that you have sensed that your Father spoke to you about a specific place, I recommend you to not assume that you know the place where the vision will be fulfilled, because if you're assuming a place that He never told you, you might be feeling frustrated for not being in that place or maybe you're making wrong decisions taking as reference a wrong place.

HOW the Vision was going to be fulfilled
Definitely Joseph thought that his family was going to say "amen!" to his vision and immediately they were going to bow down before him to fulfill the vision. It didn't happen like that. Joseph's imprudence combined to his brother's hate resulted a very sad way for Joseph. But remember this: The things that happen to you do not determine if your vision will fulfill or not. Your decisions do.

Are many things happening to you that make you think that they're taking you away from what your heavenly Father has for you? Well, if you get to think that you're getting away from your vision, then you are; but if you keep being faithful to Jesus, keep walking one step at the time, keep serving others, keep taking the best you can the opportunities that come along the way, let me tell you that you haven't moved away from fulfilling with what your heavenly Father has for you. You're in the right path. Keep it up! The fulfilling of your vision is getting nearer!

Remember that your heavenly Father gave the vision TO YOU. He neither gave it to anybody else nor to the devil. You are the only owner of your vision! Therefore, NOBODY has the power to move you away from it. The only person with the power to move you away from your vision is you.

The WHY of the Vision
Maybe the most important part that Joseph failed to understand was the reason of God's vision. When he saw in his dreams that the sheaves and the stars bowed down before him (Genesis 37:5-11), Joseph thought that his family would serve him, but God's intention was exactly the opposite: Joseph was going to serve his family by providing them food so they won't starve to death.

This principle works for ALL the visions from your heavenly Father. In other words, if the ultimate purpose of the vision is not to serve others, that vision didn't come from God. You are confusing a personal desire with a God's vision. Remember this: God didn't call you to be served by others, looked by others, applauded by others, praised by others, admired by others. He didn't call you to use others to fulfill your vision. Your heavenly Father called you to serve, look after, lift up, help and add value to others.

It doesn't matter what God has called you to, God called you to serve.

It doesn't matter in what position you are, if you're a leader or not, if you're the head or not, if you're known or not, if you have years serving or if you just started, it doesn't matter what you're doing, the ultimate purpose of the vision you received from God is to serve others. So, if you are serving others, you are on your way to fulfill your vision.

That's why Joseph never strayed from the way to fulfill his vision, because he served whatever the situation he was in: he served others as slave, he served others as prisoner and he served others as prime minister of Egypt.

NOTE: Joseph's brothers didn't reject God's vision, what they rejected was Joseph's presentation of it. Why would Joseph's brothers be against someone who'd save them! But Joseph didn't present himself like that, but like one that they had to serve. When people rightly understand the why of God's vision, almost always they'll receive it with open arms. People reject God normally because we, Christians, do not represent Him correctly. Our Father knows that the best way to win people's heart is by serving them, meeting their needs, showing them love, and the vision He gave you is not the exception. When you truly understand the heart of your vision, people will receive it.

The RANGE of the Vision
The vision Joseph received was only one little part of what God had for him, because God showed him when he was 17 that he'd serve his family, but ended serving all the nations of that region affected by the famine. The total range, that's to say, how many people he actually helped and its transcendental impact, Joseph never knew.

Do you believe that the vision that's in your heart is everything that your heavenly Father has for you? If you think so, you're wrong. That's only a part of a gigantic whole. Your Father has much more than He showed you, much more impact to others than what you think, much more touched lives than what you believe. Only in Heaven we'll actually know of the truly range of the vision that our heavenly Father gave us.

I hope this blessed you!

3 Steps to Become a Good Failure

I want to share to you three advices that, no doubts, will take you to failure. Remember that all good failure people do regularly what successful people almost never do. All good failure person make excuses, listen to everybody and plan nothing. Therefore, if you want to be a failure all your life, don't stop keeping this advices!

1. Make Excuses

Not all is your fault, so why do you have to take responsibility of everything that happens to you? Do you make the decisions of the government? Did you plan that bad thing that happened to you, that marked you and that prevented you emotionally and/or physically? Is it your fault that that man, woman, boss, coworkers, are the way they are? Of course not!

Stop listening to those that encourage you all the time because it's for sure than they didn't go through the things you did. You are the sorry, poor and pitiful person that deserves the help of all! They don't! Surely they grew up favored by destiny and will never understand your situation.

So, every time you got the chance to improve in some area, remember that you have the right to make an excuse for not to do so. What you have to do is to wait for the perfect conditions so just then to do something.


2. Listen to Everybody

Unless you want to be a hermit and exile yourself to a desert island, you have to start to compare yourself to everybody. Don't be self sufficient and proud to think that you are alright. Why to listen to only wise people, to the ones that care for you and to the ones that have obtained success? What kind of discrimination is that? This isn't a monarchy nor a dictatorship. We live in democracy!, and in such everybody deserves to be listened.

Therefore, you have to start listening to ALL your critics, to all of those that like to opine comfortably seated in their seats but they'd never be willing to play in the field, to all of those envy people that love to have what you have, to all those socia media trolls that spend five hours daily behind a screen applying their gift of criticizing others. Listen to them all!, unless that you believe that you are better that them.

And, of course, try to please everybody. Stop being selective about serving Jesus! Jesus said that we have to love are neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39) and that we have to do good to all (Galatians 6:10), didn't He?


3. Do not Plan

Plans are the modern invention of the self called "leadership and motivation masters" to maintain you slaved, and God wants you to live in freedom! (Galatians 5:13).

Short, mid and long-term plans? What's it for?, you won't fulfill their deadlines anyways and the only thing that this will be useful for is to make you feel bad and condemned, and then you'll be buying books about how to be free from condemnation, surely written by the same authors!

Living in freedom, guided by the Holy Spirit to where He wants to take you is much better! Leave now those plans to loose weigh, those goals to learn another language, that exercise routine and all of those planning nonsense that the only thing they are good is for taking your freedom.


Keep it up!
If you've been following these advices, surely your life heads to failure. Keep it up! Don't Stop! And if you've not followed them, surely your life is becoming into one of those weird exceptions where, in time, everything turn out well. But, why do you want to be the exception? Why do you want to live alone? Join the great family of failure people of all around the world and I promise that "loneliness" is something that you'll never feel!

PD: Yeap, I was being ironic =), but with much love!

Do exactly the opposite and you will surely obtain success in all the areas of life!

Hope it helps!

A TOP Marriage

Is your marriage to the fullest? Do you enjoy it? I want to share with you three ingredients to enjoy a TOP Marriage.

T - Time Together
Nowadays it's so easy to keep oneself busy. It's weird to have a free morning. Even vacations are busy, that's why we come back from them tired! We take, without realizing, this lifestyle to our marriage with grave consequences.
Remember that, after God's, your time with your spouse is the most important thing. You have to understand (because we haven't been taught so) to set time apart to spend it with him/her. THAT'S PRIORITY. THAT'S URGENT. Everything else, including your children, job and the rest of your family, cannot occupy the time that's meant ONLY for your spouse.
Get a time aside weekly: a Monday night, a Sunday morning, a Friday afternoon, etc., in which he/she will know that you both will be together. That not only will strengthen the communication between you and your spouse, but also it'll make him/her feel more important.
There will be moments where there may be exception to the rule for something that comes up, but if those exceptions become often, do not deceive yourself, and recognize that you're not giving him/her the time he/she deserves. Who decides if the exception already became often? Your spouse!

O - On Prayer
A while ago I heard a statistic of divorce in the United States that said: 3 out of 5 marriages end up divorcing, but if the couple starts to attend a church, the divorce probability goes down to 2 out of 5. But if the couple not only attend the church, but it gets involved, and also take courses for marriages and seek some counsel, the divorce rate reduces to 1 out of 5. BUT if the husband and the wife pray together regularly, 1 out of 1250 couples get divorce!
And not only praying together will keep you from divorce, but also, among its many blessings, it is the key to a much deeper intimacy with your spouse and the place where our loving heavenly Father pour out of His wisdom and direction for the problems you may face, and vision for you two, as a couple, may take what He has for you.

P - Purpose to Forgive
If you want to enjoy your marriage to the fullest, you won't be able to do it if you don't learn to use the weapon of forgiveness. And I told you that you won't be able, not because I'm pessimist, but because there is a reality: as much you as your spouse are imperfect; therefore, sooner or later, and more often than you think, you two will be offending each other. That's why you have to purpose to forgive.
Forgiveness is a weapon of personal defense. It's for you. It'll take care of your heart. It'll protect it. Purpose to forgive constantly! The more you forgive, more protected you will be. If you only forgive when a big offense comes up, it'll be difficult for you to do it, you'll make excuses, you won't know to forgive. That's why you have to forgive even the small and everyday offenses.
A successful marriage is not composed of people that never hurt each other, but of two persons that learnt to forgive each other.

If you practice these three ingredients and make them yours to get a TOP Marriage, people will say eventually about your marriage: "How lucky they were to have a marriage like this!", and then you will be able to answer: "It wasn't luck, it cost me a lot of work, but my Jesus never left me."

Hope this helped you! 😉

Prayer II: Learning to Pray

The Jewish people knew a great deal of the Bible, at least the current Bible in Jesus's day, that's to say, the Old Testament. The most studious Jews learnt by heart ALL the Old Testament. If you've ever boasted about memorizing part of the Bible, next one of them, you won't have a chance!

The disciples, as Jewish, also knew a lot of the Old Testament and, of course, knew to pray; or at least, they thought so, because they came to Jesus one day to ask Him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1).

I think that when the disciples saw Jesus's miracles, heard His powerful teachings and, above all, when they saw how He prayed, they reflected, got sincere and came to the conclusion that their Master prayed much better than them. They realized that Jesus's prayers were effective and authentic, so they humbled themselves putting all their knowledge aside, and asked Him: "Teach us to pray." In order to be able to ask Jesus "teach us" from the bottom of their heart, first they had to recognize that they didn't know. To be filled, they had to be emptied.

To be able to learn, first you have to recognize that you don't know. If you think you know, you won't be able to learn.

So, what was Jesus's answer? What did He do? Jesus proceeded to teach them. Do you know what this tells me? It tells me that we can learn, because if Jesus would've answered: "You know what, it's too late for you guys because you know already too much and it's hard to re-teach somebody", "this is for just a few selected people, and you're not one of them", or if He just would've said: "No, I don't want to teach you", then we could be sure that learning to pray is something that we'll never get. But it wasn't like that! Jesus taught them to pray because He knew that they could learn! And so it is for us!

Do you want to learn to pray like Jesus? Ask him to teach you! Put all your knowledge aside, your experience, studies and pride so you can learn. Remember that He gives grace to the humble (James 4:6), and be sure that He'll teach you like a Father to a son. Just say to Him: "Jesus, teach to pray."

Hope this may helped you!

Choosing the Right Girl

One of the women's main complaints is men's indecision. There are those that are waiting for a sign from heaven to finally choose a girl, those that are dating somebody only to see if she is the right one and those with years being a couple, but still don't decide to get married.

Dr Edwin Loius Cole used to teach: "Decision is the mark of a man."

I think that the problem resides on man's insecurity to make a wrong decision. "But, what if I choose wrong, if she isn't the right one?", they say. I think that that insecurity is based on the error of thinking that the whole relationship will be "a bed of roses", and that's why married men assume that the reason of their marital problems that they'll go through is because they chose wrong, which takes them to the logical solution of getting separated, instead of to solve the problems together.

Remember that a great marriage is not found, but built.

Principles
God doesn't have to choose for your. You have to do it, and He'll bless your decision. Obviously, there are principles in His Word by which you have to make a decision, but the decision will always be yours.

The principle that I like the most is: do not be unequally yoked together (2 Corinthias 6:14), because it doesn't refer only to not yoke together with somebody that doesn't believe in God (because of the conflicts that'll come for it), but not to yoke together neither with somebody that doesn't share the same vision and call, because you'll get frustrated for not getting the support you'll need.

Other principles are: Learn to work first (Genesis 1:18-22, before God brought Eve to Adam, He first made him work), seek for your leaders consent (Hebrews 13:17).

When you make a decision according to the principles that our Heavenly Father gives, that decision is already according to His will. You don't need to ask Him if He agrees or not because you're already doing it according to His will.

For example, when God told Joshua to take the promised land, He gave him limits in which Joshua had to conquer (Joshua 1:4). Joshua didn't have to be asking God if it was His will or not to attack any city, because His will was already given.

The same happened to Paul. He knew that God called him to preach to the non-Jewish people, so that's why we don't find record of Paul praying to know if it was God's will to preach in Corinths, Ephesus or Thessaloniki, because he knew he was doing His will.

Recommendation
We recommend in church to have long friendship time, a short period of engagement and marriage for all your life. When we say long friendship time, we mean that the guy has to choose a girl among his friends, where they both had already the chance to know each other and to be authentic. The problem is that many guys think that long friendship time means to wait for a new girl sent by God and first to seek intentionally to be her friend in order to get to know each other. That's when he starts dating someone he didn't even know. If you do that, it's almost for sure that you won't be authentic in that process of being friends, but you'll feigning to impress and, sooner or later, the mask will fall.

If you are single, choose somebody among your friends, that loves God like you, that is serving like you, that wants the same as you. Go and ask your leaders or pastors what they think, and then, go ahead and win her heart, and decide to love that woman. Start that relationship with confidence and boldness knowing that your heavenly Father is blessing that relationship because you are doing it according to His principles.

Hope it helps!

Get ready for your opportunity

Do not confuse a bad thing that happened to you with something bad that you "built". Something bad that happened to you is an accident, a betrayal, an unfair dismissal, an ill you didn't provoke, the traffic, a robbery, etc. It's something you had nothing to do; it just happened. These things happen to all of us: men and women, good and bad, to any economic level, country or belief.

In the other hand, something bad that has been "built" is a bad habit, an unpayable debt, a destroyed marriage (in most cases), infidelity, laziness, bad character, etc. It's something that you allowed to enter into your life and to grow little by little, and only now that it is bringing you a lot of problems, you consider it as a big problem. When you get to this point, you become a magnet for bad things.

But it happens the same with the good things.

Do not confuse a good thing that happened to you with a good thing that you built. Something good that happened to you is that you found money, that you met a really nice person, that you were raffled out for a prize among your workmates, that you got all the green traffic-lights, etc. It's somethings that you had nothing to do with, but it just happened. These things happened to all us: men and women, good and bad, from any economic level, county or belief.

In the other hand, something good you built is a good habit, economic stability, a good marriage, being on shape, character, discipline, etc. It's something that you willingly looked for and made grow little by little, and it is bringing you many blessings. Once you get to this point, you become a magnet for good things.

Our focus must be not on the things that happen to us, but on the things that we build.

Most people only "wait for good luck", because they think that that'll change their lives. Sadly, they don't realize that it's not about of ONLY to wait for that good luck, but to be ready for when it comes.

That "luck" or opportunity, as I said, comes to all (Ecclesiastes 9:11), sadly not everybody is ready for when it comes. Preparation is the key that opens the door of opportunity.

What do the people that never succeed do when opportunity comes to them? Because they didn't have a plan, when that extra money comes, they waste it in nonsense. When they meet a really nice person, this person doesn't want to be his/her friend because this person realizes that he/she is an emotional needy. When they got earlier to their job because the traffic was light, they waste more time in their social media. In other words, they just waste the good to came to them.

Are you ready for when your opportunity comes? Remember, YOUR OPPORTUNITY WILL DEFINITELY COME, so you'd better get ready. Preparation is the evidence that you believe that something good comes. Your preparation will determine what you will do with your opportunity when it comes: if your are ready, you'll take advantage of it, but if you are not ready, you will waste it away, or maybe, you won't even realize it came.

Hope it blessed you!

"God didn't bless me today"

There are many that maybe they don't say it, but from the bottom of their heart think that their heavenly Father didn't bless them. Many times, when the night comes, they say to themselves: "Well, I didn't see God moving for me today, He didn't bless me nor protect me. I just didn't feel Him today." I think that that thought is based on a misconception about what being blessed by God is.

Remember this: The fact that you didn't see that your heavenly Father has blessed you, it doesn't t mean He hasn't done it. The fact that you haven't seen your heavenly Father protecting you, it doesn't mean that He hasn't protected you. The fact that you haven't seen your heavenly Father helping you, it doesn't mean He hasn't helped you. The fact that you haven't felt your heavenly Father with you, it doesn't mean that He wasn't with you.

Even though you haven't felt Him, your heavenly Father TODAY has blessed you, helped you, protected you and was with you! He never ceases working for us, never rests, never sleeps. He thinks about us all the time.

Elisha's servant was worried because an army came for him and for Elisha. The army was so numerous that it could surround the city, and they came just for the two of them. The servant panicked and asked Elisha: "What shall we do?" Then, Elisha prayed so God may open his servant's eyes, and when his eyes were opened, he saw the mountain filled with horses and chariots of fire all around them (2 Kings 6:14-17).

Check this out: the Bible doesn't say that the angels were sent in the moment that his eyes were opened. Those angels with chariots of fire WERE ALREADY THERE! The servant realized their presence only when their spiritual eyes were open.

The fact that we cannot see what our heavenly Father does for us, doesn't mean that He is doing nothing. He is ALWAYS helping us. He is ALWAYS protecting us. He is ALWAYS blessing us.

I believe that only in Heaven we will realize how much our Father was actually doing for us without us realizing.

Many of us, like Elisha's servant, aren't able to see what our Father is doing because we're only focusing on what our physical eyes see: the traffic problem, the medical report, that others are better than us, that I still hear strifes at home, etc. But if we learn to focus on what our Father is doing, we'll be able to see what he does!

Because He is our Father, His nature is to bless us, to help us, to protect us, to provide for us. He doesn't bless, help, protect and provide only when we ask Him. NO! He always does it because that's His nature! Our prayer must be to have our eyes open to see and receive what all He does for us. And remember this, that even if then we can't see Him, just BELIEVE that He is working for us!

Hope it helps!

Gadol's Nugget: His children's free will

One of the characteristics of Gadol, the main character of my book, was his over concern about his children. He was convinced that they'd want to serve God thanks to the perfect testimony he thought he had before them (actually, before everybody!), that's why it was a surprise for him that they, being adults already, told them that they didn't want to serve God.

Being concerned about what would be of them away from God, he decided to take responsibility of their spiritual lives. They, in order to not make a division in their family, were agree to his idea, but obviously, since no one can approach God by force, manipulated or by being deceived, Gadol's idea didn't work.

Where was Gadol mistaken? He didn't respect his children's free will. He didn't let God to work in them, but on the contrary, by meddling in their decisions, Gadol interrupted what God was doing in them.

Advice:
If you have children, YOU CAN NOT OBLIGATE THEM TO SERVE GOD. You just can, by your example, make them want to do it.
Until certain age, you can "obligate" them to go to church, but you have to have discernment to know when you have to stop obligating them (just in case, that age is normally 12, 13 o 14 year old more or less -  if he/she is 35 years old and you're still obligating him/her, you need counseling! 😀).
The best way will always be your own testimony. The fact that they see you happy, carefree, that when you run to God they see you come out different, that you changed many bad things in you, are things that your children will see in spite of their age, and that will make them want to serve the same God you serve.

There is more for you

Many of us think that the end of a good period of our life is our end. A divorce, a love one's death, getting unfairly fire of a job, the end of a friendship, etc., are examples of periods of time that we enjoyed, that have blessed us, that have formed beautiful memories, but they are no more and, when we pass through experiences like that, we fall apart.

Moses represented for Israel that good period of time. The time the Jews lived with him were glorious, because it was him the one used by God to deliver them from Egypt, to defeat dangerous enemies and to keep them alive for 40 years in the desert. During that time the Jews witness many extraordinary miracles and experienced great victories. They felt safe with Moses. But that season was up. Moses died, and I pretty sure that more than one thought: "And now, what?"

It was in that time that God told Joshua to arise and to take the promise land (Joshua 1:1-3). In other words, God was telling him that THERE IS MORE for him and for his people. As humans, Joshua and all the people wanted to cling to the past, to the good they lived, and maybe they thought that it'd be impossible to live something better, but God was telling them that they were wrong, that the best was yet to come, that that season with Moses was good, but better things are coming.

I want to encourage you to cling not to the good you lived, because your Heavenly Father has better things for you. It's true that you lived excellent moments with that person, or that that job was the best you had so far, or that the times you shared with that friend were marvelous, but your Heavenly Father that loves you wants to tell you that your live has not finished, that you don't have to cling to your past, but arise because there is still much promise land for you.

Keep the good memories, but don't get stuck there. THERE IS MORE for you. There is more life, more wonderful people that will mark your life. Believe that the best moments of your family, of your personal life, of your sentimental life, and for your ministerial life are still ahead of you, and that your Heavenly Father will take you by the hand so you may enjoy it to the maximum!

When my boys went through a hard time at school

When my Juan Esteban started the first grade, there were a few boys that bothered him. It's hard when your son tells you that he doesn't want to go to school anymore, and then you find out that other kids were bothering him because he was skinny. The same happened to my Juan Pablo, but in his case kids bothered him because he was a little chubby. Other than talking to his parents and teachers, what else to do?

My wife and I prayed for our Heavenly Father's guidance so we may know what to do, and we felt that we should talk to them about their identity, and also that they should know that, unless in that age, kids don't do that with malice.

About their identity.
We told them that they aren't what other people say, but what their Father says, that He was the One that created them so He is the only One with the right of saying what they are, what they can do and what they have. We told them that they're sons of the Most High, that He loves them, that He will never leave them, and that they can claim to Him and He will answer them.

Kids don't do that with malice.
When they when through this, they were 6 years old. Our Heavenly Father made us understand that those kids didn't do it with malice, but they just copied it from somewhere else: family, TV, other kids, etc. So, we asked our boys: "Do you guys want your friends to feel bad because of you joke around with them, or you just do it for fun?" They answer: "We joke around with them just for fun, we don't want them to feel bad". Then we said to them that it is exactly the same when they joke around with you. And then, we added: "If it's a joke, then just laugh! Do not take those joke so serious! Laugh at yourself!"

Thank God that we know they took those words because we saw the results!

If you are going through something similar with your kids, do not react in your own strength, but rather seek your Heavenly Father's counsel!, because He'll give you the guide you need to overcome that situation.

I hope this helped you!

Learn to prevent

We learnt to prevent the hard way. I think it happens the same to most people. It was when somebody hit my car (as you may know, you never hit your car, somebody always hits yours course!), and repairing it cost me almost 700 dollars (in Peru, that's is a lot of money). I needed my car, so I had to pay it. It was then that my friend Pedro told me that I would have payed only 150 dollars if I had an insurance. Then he added: "Sadly, most Peruvians don't have a culture of prevention."

It happened the same thing when my first son was born. That Cesarean cost us almost 2500 dollars! (I have nightmares till now!). But we learnt the lesson, because the Cesarean of our second son costs us only 250 dollars because we got a health insurance. We also got a car insurance, which saved us many times!

It's true that sometimes we don't use the insurances, but looking at the big picture, it results much more cheaper to have an insurance than not to have it, not mentioning the peace it brings you. Now we want to obtain an earthquake insurance.

Don't worry that I don't want to sell you any insurance. I just want you to think that it's better safe than sorry.

In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus talks about two people, one prudent and one fool. The prudent built his house on the rock because he thought that it'd rain and that there would be a big torment. In the other hand, the foolish one most surely thought: "Oh, come on! Do you really think that there will be such a big torment that it would destroy my house! Here, on the sand, it's ok to build!" But we know that the ruin of the foolish person was great.

This passage of Matthew perfectly applies to the situation of floods and inundation that we lived in Peru early in the year. How much hurt and loss we would have averted if we had prevented! Our next door country Ecuador gave us a big lesson in that regard. They were the prudent and we the foolish.

Accidents, sicknesses or any other bad thing can happen to anybody. The thing is to be ready for when they happen. I encourage you to pray, to ask God for wisdom, to ask other people for advice, get informed!, and make better decisions to prevent bad things that may happen to you.

Proverbs 22:3

"A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple passes on and are punished"

Being Naive or Wary

For some reason, most people think that everybody that goes to church is perfect, that all of them are good and, therefore, every church goer is trustworthy. Big mistake!

One characteristic of many christians is that they're just too naive. Maybe they're thinking: "I can see that this person right there is a good christian because he's raising his hands when we worship and says 'Amen' and 'Hallelujah' in every other word. On the top of that, he says bye saying 'God bless you'. I am positive, he is trustworthy." And based on this, without any further investigation, christians lend him/her money, start a sentimental relationship with him/her and just give away their trust. They asume that he/she is trustworthy just because he is christian.

Remember this always: TRUST IS A PRIZE, NOT A PRESENT. And for someone to get to be trustworthy requires TIME.

If you've been giving away your trust, I'm almost sure that you have already disappointed and/or gotten in some trouble. Do yourself a favor and don't give your trust away anymore.

Just because of the fact that a person goes to a church, even if he/she has time attending, it guarantees nothing. Before of starting a business or a relationship, before of trusting your kids to someone, etc., double-check his/her trajectory, verify if he/she has gotten fruits in that area. Be demanding on this matter! Do not believe persuading words of people that, consciously or unconsciously, deceive (Proverbs 7:21-23).

Do not think that being wary is a bad thing. On the contrary, being naive and, because of it, not administrate well what God has given, that is a bad thing, and it brings along a lot of bad consequences. Obviously that not trusting a person even that that person has demonstrated an impeccable trajectory (which requires a lot of time) is an exaggeration and it only shows a personal problem of not being able of trusting people (but God can heal you!).

It is not a bad thing being demanding on who to put your trust on. In fact, that's being wise.

"But, if I don't trust anyone, I will have no friends." Do not give your trust away based on the need of friends. If someone stops being your "friend" because you mistrusted him/her, I think he/she never was your friend all along.

Do you want to succeed in all the areas of your life? Then do what the people that have succeed have done, and I really doubt that you'll find someone successful in business that simply has given away their money to anyone, or that you'll find someone that has opened their heart to a stranger that has enjoyed a solid and flourishing relationship. Are there exceptions? Yes, there are, but are you sure that you want to take a risk?

If you say: "Why didn't I read this before!", don't worry because our Heavenly Father doesn't condemn you, but He helps you to restore everything! Run to Him and you'll find the help and the guide you needed!

Hope this helped you!

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