Focus on what your Heavenly Father does

Your heavenly Father isn't trying to catch up the devil; it's the other way around. It's the devil that is trying to catch up your Father! There is no contest between them. Jesus already won!

What do I mean? We usually think that when we have problems, our heavenly Father has to do something to solve the situation, that's to say, that the devil attacked first and then your Father comes to solve the problem, but I think it's the other way around. It's your heavenly Father the one that is already doing something to bless you and the devil is trying that you don't receive it, and that's why he attacks!

Those problems just are the devil's attempts for you to not receive what your heavenly Father is doing for you.

Your Father isn't with arms crossed seeing how you go through trials and waiting for you to ask Him for help so He just start doing something about it. Not so! He has started doing something even before the foundation of the earth and has finished all with Jesus, and it is the devil the one trying to lie to you so you don't take the blessings that belongs to you.

So that, when you go through many trials, take them as a sign of the devil's desperation that tries to do something so you don't receive what your Father has already sent. Don't be discourage looking only the problems, because that's exactly what the devil wants. Many times we focus more on what the devil does than on what our Father does, and that's why we get discourage and don't take our blessings.

When Jesus was born, the devil tried to do something to kill him (Matthew 2:16-18). The same happened when Moses was born (Exodus 1:22). For the people back then, that time was the darkest, and because of their discouragement, they didn't see the blessing that'd been born, and that already was among them.

I encourage you to open your eyes and see what your heavenly Father is doing. All those trials, many of them inexplicable, are just the devil's attempts to get you discourage, to get you think that your Father hasn't done anything, that He's forgotten you, so that you decide not to take what's yours.

When the Bible says that the earth is filled with His glory (Isaiah 6:3), or that He loads us with blessings that each day (Psalms 68:19), or that you're already blessed in Jesus (Ephesians 1:3), isn't a lie so you may feel better, nor a motivational trick so you may see the glass half full instead half empty. It is the truth!

Be strong and courageous and dare to look only at what your heavenly Father is doing, and you'll see that you'll get encourage, you'll start to see what He's doing and you'll note the opportunities and blessings where you hasn't seen them before!

Hope this may blessed you! 😀

A prayer for 2018

Heavenly Father, I thank you for 2017 that just finished, because I know that You've been with me all the time. Maybe many times I didn't realize that You were there, but that doesn't mean that You weren't. And for this same reason I know that You'll be with me this year 2018.

I ask you to help me to see You all this starting year. I don't want to be led by my feelings, but I want to learn to live by faith. I know there will be problems, situation that will make me stumble and maybe I'll turn my eye off of You, but help me to put my eyes back to You rapidly, knowing that You won't condemn me for not having trusted You, but You'll be ready to receive me, hug me and help me to solve that problem.

Thank you for I know that you don't seek perfection in me. You don't ask me to be a perfect son, because You know that that is impossible for me. Rather, thank You because You gave your perfect Son so He may die for my imperfections, and thanks to Him, now You see me perfect, holy, pure and spotless. Thank You because that gives the confidence that in 2018 I can go forth for new challenges without the fear of being wrong before You, because I know that You won't be disappointed of me, that You won't get weary of my mistakes and sins, but You'll always be willing to help, correct and direct me with love.

Thank You because Your Word says that You go before me (Deuteronomy 31:8) and that You prepare the way for me (Ephesians 2:10). This means that 2018 isn't new for You. I don't know the things I'll face this starting year, but You do. And I know that, in Your faithfulness, You already ensured that any situation I face has a way of escape, so I'll be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13). So I'll walk confident that You've already been to where I'll be and that You prepared everything for me.

I won't be afraid of the bad news that 2018 brings, because my heart will be steadfast trusting You (Psalms 112:7). You won't abandon me in anytime, move away from me nor leave me alone, but You'll ALWAYS be with me (Matthew 28:20). I decide to see your goodness (Psalms 27:13), and to believe that the earth is filled with your glory (Isaiah 6:3), and that includes my family, my business, my church and my country. My mouth will declare Your good news and not the bad news I'll hear. The physician doesn't have the last word, neither my boss, the president, the authorities, nor the things I see in my family. I decide to believe that You have the last word. I decide to believe Your Word and fix my eyes only on You.

Thank Father because You love and You will always do, and that love is the anchor that soul needs. I feel safe in You.

Amen

Do I have to tell sinners their sins?

It's so common to hear that we HAVE to denounce people's sins, and the main reason they say is because Jesus did so. Well, let's see what Jesus did.

Jesus and adulteress woman (John 8:1-11)
- Did Jesus tell the woman "sinner" or "adulteress"? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus tell her? "Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more".
- Who told her "sinner" or "adulteress"? The pharisees.

Jesus and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)
Zacchaeus was a thief (he charged more taxes to people than he should).
- Did Jesus tell "sinner" or "thief" to Zacchaeus? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus say? "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide in your house." In other words, Jesus self-invited to sleep over Zacchaeus's.
- Who used to tell him "sinner" or "thief"? The Jews. In fact, they were surprised that Jesus wanted to sleep over Zacchaeus's house.

Jesus and Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-31)
Matthew (also known as Levi), was a thief (charged more taxes than he should).
- Did Jesus tell "sinner" or "thief" to Matthew? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus do? He invited Matthew to follow Him, and he ended up being one of the 12 apostles (Matthew 10:1-4).

Jesus and the publicans and sinners (Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-31)
Matthew had prepared a banquet for Jesus, in which many publican and sinners assisted as well (a publican was a tax collators, that's to say, a thief).
- Did Jesus tell "sinner" or "thief" to any of them? No, He didn't. Not even to one of them.
- The surprised pharisees asked Jesus's disciples why their Master eat with sinners.

Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42)
- Did Jesus tell the woman "sinner" or "adulteress"? No, He did not.
- Who told the woman "sinner" or "adulteress"? Most likely, most of the people did, because there was a reason for her to go to the well for water at midday (the hottest moment of the day), when normally everybody went to the well early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the weather already cooled down. That's to say, the woman wanted to go to the well when she knew there was nobody there, so nobody bothers her.
- What Jesus did was bringing up the issue of her disordered life by asking for her husband, and if we have a look to the context, we can understand that Jesus did it, not to condemn her, but to show her the need in her that He wanted to meet when He was talking about the living water, but since she wasn't understanding Jesus, He was a little clearer asking her directly about her husband. If she had understood that the living water was just an illustration, He most surely hadn't asked her about her husband.

Jesus and the woman of the expensive perfume (Luke 7:36-50)

We don't know in what sin she was involved, but it's supposed that she was a prostitute.
- Did Jesus tell the woman "sinner"? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus do? He accepted her offering and then forgave her sins.
- Who told her "sinner"? Simon the Pharisee.

Jesus and the paralyzed man (Mark 2:1-12)
- Did Jesus tell the paralyzed man "sinner"? No, He did not.
- What did Jesus do? He forgave his sins and then healed him.

Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:24-34)
- Did Jesus tell the woman "unclean"? No, He didn't.
- What did He do? He healed her.

Jesus and Peter, James and John (Luke 5:1-12)
- Did Jesus tell them "sinners"? No, He didn't, but it seems that they expected Him to tell them so, surely because other others told them so.
- It's interesting to see how in this case and Matthew's, Jesus didn't make them to go first through a "purification" or "preparation" time in order to serve with Him. To the ones that supposedly were more qualified, Jesus didn't call.

And I still don't mention Bartimaeus the blind man, the leper man, Jairus the principal of the synagogue, the prodigal son and, in fact, EVERYBODY that went to Jesus, because we know that EVERYBODY were sinners. There is NO EVEN ONE RECORD that Jesus told someone "sinner". NOT EVEN ONE.

On the contrary, there was one occasion that Jesus did use strong words: with the hypocrite pharisees (Matthew 23). In other words, Jesus only condemns hypocrisy. All of us were sinners saved by grace. Don't think about you more than that.

So, do I have to tell sinners their sins?
- If you are going to do it just because it is bad and it must be said, then don't do it. As we saw, not even Jesus did it. Besides, if you're going to do it with that attitude, the only thing you'll get is to raise walls of separation.
- But if you are going to do it because you have a sincere desire of helping them because you know that if they continue in that way, they will suffer, besides, you know that person, go ahead and tell it to him/her.
- If you don't know that person, I don't recommend you to do it, unless you feel that God is guiding you to do it (in this case, I recommend you to ask for confirmation to other leaders of your church, specially if the issue is something very grave).

"For God did not send His Son to world to condemn the world,

but that the world through Him might be saved"

John 3:17

I really hope this helped you!