Money

Jesus declared "you can not serve God and Money". Money can be our lord and master...but we can use money to give glory to our Master. This is the next red-letter words in my Bible

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, ...

... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, ...

... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also...

... If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. ...

... "No one can serve two masters... You cannot serve both God and Money...

... "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, ...

... Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?

... For the pagans run after all these things, ...

... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

.... Each day has enough trouble of its own. Mat 6:19-34

RG: Lord, what shocked me in this passage is You elevated serving Money with Serving God in the same level but in contrast. I thought the battle for lordship in ones life is only between You the devil and self, but here you are contrasting You and Money.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Yes RG, I have to emphasize this because Money is a very strong driving force in the heart of man. Money continued to be the SECRET MASTER of many people who profess to know me.

RG: Lord if I examine my heart, yes, indeed in many instances I am driven by money. But isn't legitimate Lord to desire to have money? We have our needs that we know money can meet.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: "Needs that we know money can meet!" Do you hear yourself saying that RG? who then meets your needs?

RG: Oh oh, I know that you are the one meeting our needs. Now I got your point Lord, why money can be our Master instead of You, because money can also meet our needs and not just needs including our insatiable wants.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: You see RG, money is highly convertible to meet ones needs. Money can be easily converted to any forms of pleasure that you like, to comfort that to want, to power that you want to have, to almost everything that you can think of in this world. Most of the things that you ask of Me can be answered by money. That is why it is very easy to turn to money and make it your master.

RG: Lord, this is a very dangerous trap! Lord, please teach me how I should view money, I know that money is not evil but the love it can lead me to be enslave to it. How can I avoid making money as my master?

The Lord Jesus seems to say: First of all RG, you must reckon everything from the time when you trusted me for your salvation. You must trust me all the way including your basic needs, and your family's needs. Not only in the present but also in the future. If you cannot trust me for your basic needs, you will begin to worry and scramble yourself up to find more money on your own.

RG: Lord, this is exactly the description of me when I was pursuing a better and comfortable life, before you called us to be here.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: There is nothing wrong RG with living a comfortable life, but if your commitment to comfortable living goes beyond your commitment to follow me, then the love of money will start to crawl in your heart. And when you can not secure your future, you will try harder and harder until you have what you want. Once you started to have money, you want keep it all to yourself, after all its the fruit of your labor. But slowly your trust is now shifting from me to your money. And because you consider it as "your money", it become difficult to see Me in the picture, I don't have even a say where you should spend your money.

RG: Lord, please help me to sort this out, how can I put you clearly into the picture?

The Lord Jesus seems to say: You see RG, if you are fully trusting me for your needs. Its easy to see and acknowledge that everything that you have comes from Me and is part of the way I am providing your needs. I am the one who is blessing your efforts. I am the one who is giving you the ability and opportunities to earn money. If this is the way you view how you get your money then you will give me the freedom to tell you where you should spend it.

RG: Oh, Lord I am beginning to understand, thank you Lord for your assurance that you will meet our needs.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: That's too small for Me RG, in fact I am providing each of my children not only their needs, but a lot more so that they can invest them for eternity. I want them to store it in heaven by helping the movement of the furtherance of My Kingdom here on earth. This is good for your soul, for where your treasure is there your heart be also. You sometimes wonder why your heart is very far from Me, well, simply because your treasure is not aligned to what is precious to Me.

RG: What a beautiful picture Lord on how we should handle our money. So instead of making money as our master, we can actually use the money that you gave us to honor you and bring glory to your name.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: That's right RG, but I am so sad about the reality that many of my children, are wanting to put the control of money unto their hands, not because they wanted to invest for eternity but they wanted to satisfy every cravings of their flesh and everything that their eyes can see. I am sad RG that I have given many of my children the ability to earn money more than what they need, but instead of sharing it to the poor and spending it for the furtherance of the Kingdom, they spend it all for themselves and building more reserves so that they can sustain their lifestyle. Even the so called full-time workers are not spared. The commitment to a comfortable life of some of my workers is so strong that, money becomes the motivation even among the so called ministry.

RG: Lord, please help me to trust you. You know that I am a worrier, I am worrying, about my children, I worry about helping our relatives, I worry about our growing old and so many other things. I want to come and look to you alone as our provider...

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Here is my deal with you RG "seek first my Kingdom and my righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you as well" let me rephrase it "You take care of the things that are dear to Me and I will take care of the things that are dear to you"

RG: Oh Lord, this is too wonderful to behold!

Prayer

There are so much to learn about prayer...This is the next red-letter words in my Bible.

"... when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites...

... But when you pray, ... pray to your Father...

... when you pray, do not keep on babbling ... many words.

... This, then, is how you should pray..." Mat 6:5-15

RG: Lord until now I cannot fully understand what is it in prayer that seems mysterious sometimes. Others would consider it as power to get things done specially when it involve spiritual dimension. Other consider it as a mark of a saints. Lord please teach me what really prayer is.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: First of all RG prayer is not for show. So don't pray so that others would know or others would see or hear your well arranged words with highly spiritual sounding words with matching rise fall of your voice to show how spiritual you are. In other words you do not pray to promote yourself.

RG: Whuuo... this is heavy Lord.. I remember my self engaging to this kind of prayer during prayer meetings or praying when there are people around... Oh Lord, please free from theatrical prayer. Please continue Lord to teach me what payer really is.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Secondly, prayer is not for magical power, that when you pray several times a day, or repeating certain words, or in certain position or with certain accessories, or in certain place with matching trembling hands and rising and falling of voice, then you make things happen or you force God to make it happen.

RG: Lord, I am tempted to do this whenever I face difficult situation. When I am sick and when I am facing a personal, family and even ministry problem, I want them to vanish right away so my prayer sounds like magical. And when it does not happen, first I will begin to justify that probably its like this and like that... but later on, I observed my self that little by little I am drifting away from you...then the worst thing that happened to me was when I resented you ... because you seems to be not listening to me... you don't let the things that I prayed happen. Until now Lord I still have that tendency... so sometimes I would say to my self, I better not pray...what's the use of praying if God don't let it happen.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Yes, RG I remember that time that you resented me so much when things are not happening the way you wanted it to be in the training apartment that you started in Cebu. I was overwhelmed by your demands (hehehe)... you were so confused who is the Lord between the two of us. And when I did not do what you want you started to resent me and did not want to talk to me for eight months!!! can you imagine that! hehehe but of course I treasure that time because finally you learned who is Lord between the two of us, and you learned that there is no place on earth to hide that I can not find you and reach you with my love.

RG: Yes Lord, I remember that moments and I treasured it too.. Lord, please tell me, if prayer is not about asking you so that things would happen then what is it?

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Well, RG, prayer is about GOD and about your relationship with Him, yes He cares about you but it is all aligned to who He is and His relationship with you. You see in the first two things I mentioned what prayer is not, they are all about you. Both theatrical and magical prayer are all about your old self. You are just using prayer to advance yourself and your agenda, and you are not just using prayer, you are also using Me.

RG: Urgh!!! kasakit Lord, but you are right...forgive me Lord, and please teach me what prayer really is.... ahh ok Lord, I remember now, you did not explain what prayer is to your disciples but instead you taught them how to pray. Lord please teach me also how to pray.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Ok RG, I will teach you the same prayer I taught to my first disciples. Go ahead write it down.

RG: Oh this is exciting, Ok Lord here it is:

'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' Mat 6:9-13

Oh I didn't realized that it was very short.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Yes it is short but it says it all. It starts with defining how you should approach God when you pray. "You are his son and He is your Father!". As a Father, God longs for you to talk to Him about anything and you should rejoice that His dwelling place is in Heaven. It doesn't implies that He is a distant father, because he is everywhere but rather it says about His character. Here on earth, fathers are not perfect, all tainted with sin and selfishness but not your father in Heaven where holiness, faithfulness and love abounds.

RG: Ok Lord, so my prayer first of all should be out of my relationship with you as my Father. Thank you lord for making me a father to my three sons, at least I know how it is to be a father, as imperfect as it is, you gave me a glimpse of how you feel when your children come to you to talk about anything.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Not only God is your Father RG, this Father that you have is also a reigning holy King and God of the universe. He has His big plan of regaining back part of His Kingdom which was surrendered by Adam and Eve and usurped by Satan. You are part of this redemption, that's how you become His son, you are now His ally. So,your prayer should always be align to who God is and to His Plan. That is why you say "Let Your Name be glorified, Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done here on earth as it has been in heaven"

RG: Lord, I know I can not align my prayers if the things that I do and the way that I am is not align to God and His plan. How about my needs and my family's needs Lord where is its place in my prayer?

The Lord Jesus seems to say: He wants you to depend on Him for your needs, he knows it even before you ask, but he just want you to ask. Its not just the asking that is important to God its the joy of hearing your voice because you are His son. That is why He loves you to do it in a daily basis. So you should pray "Give us THIS day our daily bread", so that tomorrow you will come again to Him.

RG: Oh Lord You are amazing, thank you for causing me to come to you daily...

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Since you are now my son and my ally, I want you to extend to others what you receive from Me. So you should be able to pray "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sins against us" . There is something that snaps in our fellowship as Father and son if you can not do to others what I have done to you.

RG: Oh Lord I treasure our companionship as Father and son. You are not just my Father, you are my friend too and I don't want anything that would break it.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Neither I RG. I treasure our friendship more than you do. So I want you to pray " That you will not be led into temptation but let God protect and deliver you from evil" Don't be on your own, always depend on your Father, because that is the essence of prayer. Prayer puts you and God to its right place.

Hypocrisy

I learned that hypocrisy is a silent destroyer of our relationship with God...God hates hypocrisy... this is the next-red letter words in the Bible.

"Be careful! When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them. ... don't be like the hypocrites... Mat 6:1-18

RG: Lord please teach me about hypocrisy.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: RG, it is exactly what I said it is "doing good things to be seen by people". It's not real, it's plastic, it is not who you really are from the inside, it's for a show. And I don't like it.

RG: Lord, I read from the Bible how you unleashed your anger towards the Pharisees because of hypocrisy.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Go ahead RG, write that portion of the Scriptures here so that while you are writing and reading it you can feel my heartbeat against hypocrisy.

RG: Yes Lord here it is;

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. Mat 23:23-29

Lord, You were really angry when you saw the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Not only to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law RG. At the beginning of the Church I made a clear and strong signal that hypocrisy should never be part of my people. There was point in time when everybody were selling their possessions and bringing everything into the Apostles feet for distribution, there was this couple wanting to make a show for everyone to see that they were doing the same thing. I want you also to write that story here RG so that you can feel my heartbeat against hypocrisy.

RG: Ok Lord here it is;

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. Act 5:1-11

Oh Lord this was really a fearful sight that Ananias and Sapphira just fell dead on their feet. I know that it was not because they did not give 100% of the sales that they suffered death, but it was because they lied and make others believed (including the Apostles) that they gave 100% of the sales to show to the people how dedicated they are.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: That is right RG, all acts of hypocrisy are lying. Hypocrisy RG is not only present among unbelievers, it is present among believers, oh yes, the saddest thing is, it is ruining the lives of many Christian Leaders.

They are so good and loving to their constituents but harsh to their wives and children.

They are so good and making advise and quoting verses but ignoring same advise and verse.

They have done so little in the ministry but very quick to take the honor of some successes in the ministry.

They are quick to say "I'll pray/I am praying for you" but have never prayed for so long.

Theyare quick to give to some announced needs but neglect the need of his neighbor and family members.

I can enumerate more and more acts of hypocrisy here and I want you to know that I am very sad that my children has to engage in this charade.

RG: Lord I am guilty of hypocrisy, forgive me Lord... please teach me more about this silent destroyer of my relationship with you.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: Hypocrisy is an attempt to maintain an image, it is also an attempt to exalt yourself and gain honor and glory. You know from the start RG that honor and glory should only belong to God and you will always be in trouble if you attempt to take it and put it in you. When Satan tried to get it and put it on himself, he ends up as the enemy of God. God is a jealous God and He can not allow His glory to be taken by others. It's not not because He is a self centered God, but it is for your own good, you are created as a giver of glory to God not a taker of glory that belongs to God.

RG: Lord teach me how can I overcome hypocrisy.

The Lord Jesus seems to say: First settle it in your heart that ALL GLORY and HONOR should only belong to God. Let God exalt you if He wish but never seek it from people. Secondly, I think you need to know by heart that I have already accepted you as you are, so don't have to lie and be hypocrite just to feel accepted by people. Make my acceptance as more important than the acceptance that you long from other people. I love you RG, I know you and I choose you to be mine, you don't have to make a charade of who you are, I have forgiven you and accepted you as you are and now I am working to transform you into my own likeness.

RG: oh Lord, my God how wonderful you are!