The Devil is a Roaring Lion

“Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:8-9

Not many people believe in the devil today, and that is exactly what this wily enemy wants. He wants us to scoff, “What? The devil? That fictional character our parents used to scare us with?” The more he is hidden in the dark, the more powerful he is. That is where he thrives, in darkness. He likes to manipulate our thoughts, and win in the battle for our minds. 

I read this true story of a man who got stuck in a refrigerator car when all his factory mates went home to celebrate a birthday. He got frantic while pounding on the walls because he believed the refrigerator car was plugged in and he would freeze to death. When he was found the next day, sure enough, the hospital report concluded he died from freezing. The odd thing was the refrigerator car was not even connected to the power supply.

The mind is a powerful thing and the devil knows how to manipulate it. I remember when my late brother-in-law, Jing, used to tell me that thoughts are like a mad dog. If you let it just roam free, it will go all over the place and can wreak destruction. We have to rein it in right away, and keep the leash tight. If we are anxious, depressed, or confused, we should not let our minds wander into places that will makes us even more morose. The Bible says, “Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Trust Me

"Whoever puts faith in me believes not so much in me as in Him who sent me..." John 12:44

In another version, we read, "If you trust me, you are really trusting God who sent me." Jesus continues with the words, "Whoever looks on me is seeing Him who sent me." 

It's difficult to trust and believe in someone we do not see or hear. But in Malachi 3:10, God says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. TEST ME IN THIS and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

If we can test Him in our giving of tithes, we can also prove Him when it comes to His other promises. There are warnings in the Bible that we should not test God like the Pharisees did. They wanted to look for a way to trip Jesus up with His answers. But a lot of God's commands come with promises attached to them, and when we obey, it's like putting money in the bank. Obedience brings blessing. 

Father, I pray that I may nurture my little mustard seed of faith. I want to be like Peter who obeyed You when You told him to put out into the deep. Even when he had been fishing all night and caught nothing, Peter obeyed, and was rewarded with abundance. 

My Home is Within You

That's what it says in Psalm 87. His home is within us. He does not need a key.

Am I comfortable with having Jesus within me? Aren't there places where I would rather put up a sign, "Keep out!"

No, Jesus, you can't come into this part of MY house! OOPS! I thought it was Jesus' home? Well, Jesus is a gentleman and He will NEVER barge into places of our lives He is not wanted. Rather sad really because any place He is welcome will be all the better for it!

New Creation

‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ Acts 11:9

All of us have pet peeves. Someone asked me, "Would you allow a man covered with tattoos to lead worship?" And I said yes I would! I used to go to QC Jail every week, and almost all the men had tattoos, and they prayed and lead worship all the time. Then there's my friend who hates bad grammar and one who even made a song about it. I was thinking that God does not have pet peeves about people. If someone came up to Him and wanted to be His friend, He would accept him. God would make him a new creation.

One of my favorite conversion stories is about the youngest Baldwin, Stephen. Stephen has 18 tattoos, and he was known as the "dumb jock of Hollywood" because of all the, well, dumb things he said and did. In his book, "The Unusual Suspect", he writes of "snorting enough cocaine to throw the entire population of a small South American country into anaphylactic shock." But he and his wife Kennya are now born again Christians and he is an evangelical Christian youth minister. In one interview he claimed, "It's real, it's changed my life, it's transformed my heart, I'm not who I was," Baldwin says. "No longer … do I feel the pressure of, 'how fancy are my shoes? Or what kind of car am I driving? Or how much money do I make?' None of that matters to me anymore … I'm having a daily experience with the spirit of God that's more priceless than anything I've experienced before."

 How did it start? When Kennya was pregnant, the couple hired Augusta, a Brazilian cleaning woman, because Kenya was from Brazil and that's what you do with a baby on the way. Kenya noticed that Augusta was always singing about Jesus and she asked, "Why is every song about Jesus?" And Augusta burst with laughter. "What's so funny?" Kenya asked and Augusta replied, "Quite frankly, I think it's a little bit funny that you think I'm here to clean your house!!!" The story came out that Augusta had a dream about Stephen and his little family. Before she accepted the job, she prayed with her pastor and some church members, and she was told in prophetic word that if she went to work for them, the couple would become believers and be involved in ministry. Now if I had been Augusta, would I have believed that was possible? I would be plenty skeptical! But God had a plan, and He used a Brazilian nanny to reach Stephen and his wife. 

It is God's desire to make us all new creations in Him! It does not matter if we are covered in tats, leprous wounds, or if the wounds are in our heart. God wants us, and He will use a Brazilian nanny, a life threatening disease, a TV show, whatever.

The Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” John 10:14

It is no wonder that Jesus used the analogy of sheep and their shepherd to describe His relationship to His followers. When my husband Luigi asked a shepherd if he could feed his sheep, the man said something like, “You can try. That’s the problem you see. I can’t take a day off. The sheep only come to me.” Luigi held the bucket of food and called out to the sheep with no avail. Not one came near. 

In the Catholic Church, today is Good Shepherd Sunday. We celebrate the fact that Jesus laid His life down for us like a good shepherd. He knows each of us by name, knows our idiosyncrasies and frailties, and if we are a good follower, we know and love Him back. 

Thank You Lord, that if we recognize Your voice and follow You, You will lead us to the pasture of everlasting life. 

Get Up, Tabitha!

“Get up, Tabitha!” Acts 9:40

Ever since my mom got sick many years ago, I’ve had this desire that God would give me the gift of healing. Like anything in life, I have found that sometimes God gives it to you or one has to practice, practice, practice. 

I started embellishing my prayer journal every day in 2006. I started cutting up magazines and pasting pictures and words on my journal to illustrate a bible verse. Then I started to make stick figures, painted faces, then I traced magazine pictures and painted on my Bible. When I got sick in 2019, and could not easily get to my craft room, I learned digital illustration. It’s a journey and God is there all the time honoring whatever effort we make. I believe the same is true with the gift of healing. 

In the 9th chapter of Acts, we read about the fledgling Christian communities in Judea, Galilee and Samaria.  Peter visited the new followers of Christ to encourage them and I can imagine that many sick were brought to him. In Lydda, he healed a paralyzed man named Aeneas who had been confined to his bed for 8 years. In Joppa, he prayed over a dead woman named Tabitha, and she opened her eyes. 

I do believe that like Peter we have a mission to heal the sick. After all Jesus said to His disciples, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” Was He only commissioning the Twelve? Then why did He say in John 14:12-14, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father…If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

If we believe that God doesn’t hear our feeble prayers, we will not attempt to pray over anyone who is sick. But if we persist in praying over anyone sick who comes our way, whether they get well or not, God will meet us where we are. 

In the story of the persistent widow in Luke 18, Jesus teaches that we need persistent faith, faith that won’t give up even if the last person we prayed for died. We need the faith God will gift us with if we press in and on with God, faith that believes God’s Word and expects Him to act. Practice, practice, practice! 

Show Me Your Face!

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Acts 9:4

The Spirit blows where it wills. God does not discriminate. There are “enemies” of God persecuting His people like Paul, who have been called to journey with Him. 

This is the story of a modern day Paul in Iran where many have converted from Islam to Christianity. When Taher, who was well respected as a Haji, one who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim, found out his daughter became a Christian, he became so angry. Then his wife, who was a Haji-eh, came to Christ, he was even more angry. The last straw was when his son accepted Christ. He erupted into a rage, and tried to force his family to turn back to Islam. He beat them and threatened to kill them. His family eventually left him and went abroad. 

In his growing despair and loneliness, he memorized the verses in the Koran, and focused on Allah, serving the god of his fathers. “Please show me your face,” Taher begged. He got disheartened by the silence and began to doubt. In his desperation, he cried, “I will believe in the God who reveals Himself to me." God revealed Himself to Taher in a dream. 

Why does God appear to many Muslims in dreams? “In a survey of Muslim academics, undertaken at the International Islamic University of Malaysia early in the twenty-first century, all the participants reported their belief in the possibility of receiving true guidance from God in their dreams. Many said that they perform rituals before going to sleep with the hope of having true guidance from God in their dreams.” (Sirriyeh2015:5)

Taher relates that in his dream, a man riding a donkey approaches him, gets down and hugs him. Then this man he had never seen before said, "I will clean you from all your sins; you are free. I will give you rest. Believe in Me." Taher asked, "But what will happen if I sin again?" The man repeated, "I will clean all your sins." Then the man left and another came to him, “Do you know the man on the donkey?" Taher answered that he did not, and the second man revealed, "He is Jesus Christ. He cleans your sins." 

Taher woke up, and pondered his dream. When he fell asleep again, the same dream came to him. Waking up a second time, he became afraid. How could he leave Islam after serving Allah for 45 years? He was a Haji! But after he had the same dream a third time, he had no doubts that Jesus Christ was the only true God, and Jesus was calling him! When Taher went to a Christian church, the leaders were a little suspicious that he might be a spy until Taher exclaimed: “I saw Jesus in a dream, I saw his face!”

Taher is now abroad and happily back with his family. God still speaks to the broken hearted and when we seek, we will find. That is His promise! 

Exciting Time

“Do you really grasp what you are reading?” The Ethiopian eunuch replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” Acts 8:30-31

The encounter between Philip, one of the men chosen by the disciples to serve food to the community, and an Ethiopian eunuch is quite dramatic. God orchestrates their meeting, first by telling Philip to go south on a particular road on the desert, then by instructing him to join up with the chariot on which the Ethiopian is riding. 

“Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asks the stranger. “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” There are many things in the Bible that puzzle me, but I know that the Holy Spirit guides us to all truth. If today I do not understand, one day, that particular baffling passage will yield its treasure. In God’s time. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch. God knew it was time for him to learn about Jesus, and He sent Philip to explain the scriptures to Him. It would have been exciting to listen in on that conversation! 

Today, there are so many resources available to us. I like to listen in on the conversion stories on YouTube. I like to ponder on what teachers and preachers like Steve Ray, Brant Pitre, Scott Hahn and so many others, discover. Like the eunuch, we can see clearly that Jesus was already foretold in the Old Testament, that the Eucharist has its roots in Jewish traditions, that all the old covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David find their fulfilment in the new covenant of Jesus Christ. So many exciting conversations to listen in on. We just need to find the time and God will use that to enliven the flame and bring us back to our first love for Him. It is truly an exciting time we are living in!

I AM

"I am the Bread of Life." John 6:35 and John 6:47

This is one of the "I AM" statements of Jesus that we can't ignore. We have to decide if this man who claims to be the the bread of life, meaning "essential" for our existence, is saying what He knows to be truth. Is he a liar? The worst kind, who knows what he is saying is false but desires to deceive others? Or is he delusional, crazy, living his own reality? He could also be a fool, couldn't he? We could say "I like Jesus. I admire Him. I like reading His words. He is wise, compassionate, but I don't believe I have to obey Him. He's not God!" Well then, who is he? Isn't He who He claims to be?

Jesus said in John 6:32: "For the bread of God is that which COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN, and GIVES LIFE TO THE WORLD." So of course, the people hearing that said: "Lord ALWAYS GIVE US THIS BREAD!!!" They were probably looking for manna, like the bread that fell from heaven during Moses' time every single day! But Jesus is much more, much much more than manna. This is what the first Christians believed: 

Ignatius of Antioch wrote in his Letter to the Romans in A.D. 110, “I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire His blood, which is love incorruptible”.

And Origen wrote, “Formerly there was baptism in an obscure way . . . now, however, in full view, there is regeneration in water and in the Holy Spirit. Formerly, in an obscure way, there was manna for food; now, however, in full view, there is the true food, the flesh of the Word of God, as he himself says: ‘My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink’ [John 6:55]” (Homilies on Numbers 7:2 [A.D. 248]).

If we don't believe what Jesus said, then we will always be hungry. Always be searching. But you see, that's OK. Jesus said, "If you seek, you will find." (Matthew 7:7) If we need to, let us just keep seeking, keep asking, keep looking. Don't stop. One day we'll be able to decide and know for ourselves if this man is who He claims to be! It’s the most important quest of our life. It determines where we will live forever. 

I am the Bread of Life

“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger...” John 6:35

True stories abound of very rich people, celebrities even, who earned hundreds of millions of dollars, and ended up scrounging in garbage bins and living out of cardboard boxes or cars. There are also people who won millions in the lotto, who thought all their problems would be solved but who became even more enmeshed in more problems and disasters. No matter how rich or privileged a person is, he can never guarantee that he will never go hungry. 

There is only one Person who can give us the guarantee that we will never go hungry if we stay by His side. Jesus. He said, “Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him, the Father, God, has set His seal.” (John 6:27)

During Biblical times, seals were often made of wax, embedded with the personal imprint of the one who makes the guarantee of authenticity. Here Jesus assures us that it is God the Father Himself who guarantees Jesus as the Bread of Life. Whoever depends on Him, who accepts Him as Lord, will never hunger. 

When we pray the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3, we say, “Give us this day our DAILY bread”. But most Christian scholars today reject this translation of the word “epiousios” in the original Greek New Testament. These scholars as well as Saint Jerome back in AD 382, translate it not as “daily” but as “SUPERSUBSTANTIAL”. Jesus instructed us to ask for supersubstantial bread. That is why we will never hunger, never perish, never die. 

Like the apostles let us pray, “Jesus, give us this supersubstantial bread always! You are the bread of life. I believe in You! I trust in You!”

Only God

“Do not work for food that perishes...” John 6:27

Jesus said this after feeding 5000 people with loaves and fishes. These same people followed him, getting into boats to look for Him. Jesus is the only human with the unique perspective of really seeing with God’s eyes the difference between perishable bread and His Words, the bread of life. 

I do not tire of retelling this amazing story of Hien Pham. He was an interpreter when Americans came and spoke to the troops in Vietnam. After Vietnam fell, Hien was accused of working for the CIA and incarcerated. He was forbidden to read anything but writings of Marx and Engels in Vietnamese or French. He was indoctrinated that there is no God day after day after day. One night he decided, “Tomorrow I am going to live as if there is no God.”

The next day he was assigned to clean the dirty, smelly latrines. He covered his mouth and nose as he mopped up the toilets. As he was about to throw out one bucket, he noticed a piece of paper in English. He surreptitiously cleaned it and put it in his pocket. That night when all was quiet, he took it out and read it. It was a page from Romans chapter 8: “And we know that all things work together for good for them that love God.” No verse was more relevant for him that day and he fell to his knees. The next day he volunteered to clean the latrines again. Each day he would find a page from the Bible, clean it and read it eagerly at night for his devotions. It turns out the Commander had been given a Bible which he used for toilet paper.

When Hien was eventually released, he and 53 other people decided to build a boat and escape. A few days before they were about to leave, four fully armed Viet Cong arrived and interrogated him. He insisted he had no plans of escaping. When the four left, he asked forgiveness from God for the lie and promised to tell the truth if they came again. 

A few hours before he and his companions were to board the boat, the four Vietcong came and asked him again, “You’re trying to escape, aren’t you?” “Yes,” Hien Pham admitted, “Are you going to kill me?” “No,” they whispered, “we want to go with you!”

So all fifty-eight escapees set out. In the high seas, there was a storm and the boat almost capsized but the four Vietcong were the best mariners they could have wanted and they all safely reached Thailand. 

Hien said when he was finally in the US, “You know you always think you’re going to manage it your own way. It never works. The most important thing is to find intimacy with God, and He will guide you and take you through safely in your journey as you walk hand and hand with Him. When everything comes together, you have wonder, truth, love, and security. That’s what gives life meaning, and you’ll find only God is big enough to do that for you.”

Peaceful Sleep

"As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep, for You alone, O Lord, bring security to my dwelling." Psalm 4:8

A good sleep is such a blessing. Thankfully, most nights, as long as I am in bed by 9:30 pm, I sleep very well and wake up fully refreshed in time to pray. 

When we can't sleep, we should count our blessings instead of sheep! Sometimes I can't sleep because I am thinking of the long list of things I have to do and take care of. Such a trial! People attempt all sorts of ways to sleep. Some take supplements of taurine, magnesium or vitamin B6. Some need a sleep mask and/or ear plugs to block out noise and light. I've heard of people praying the Rosary to sleep, or inhaling through the left nostril. Some even need to see a doctor, take sleeping pills or go to sleep clinics for insomnia! One time I decided to listen to one of Fr. Dave Concepcion’s Lenten retreats on YouTube. Bad idea! Although I can learn a whole lot from him, he is so funny and can be absurd, I did not sleep a wink and ended up listening to the hour long talk! Never again! 🤣🤣🤣

Truly, we should know that we can leave all our worries and anxieties with God, in His hands, and He will take care of the things we forget, or those things beyond our power to do. As long as we do our part, we can leave the rest to God. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of!" And while we sleep, we can be sure that He who keeps us will not slumber or rest. (Psalm 121:3-4)

It is I

“It is I. Do not be afraid.” John 6:20

Today's gospel is from John chapter 6 and tells the story of the disciples setting off for Capernaum. A strong wind was blowing and they suddenly saw Jesus walking on the water and coming near the boat. They began to be afraid. These strong husky fishermen were terrified at the unknown. 

Jesus calls out to them. “It is I. Do not be afraid."

In 1 John 4:11-18, the writer tells us that God is love and in love, there is no room for fear. "Perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18. It is good to examine ourselves and see if we have any fear or doubt that we need to root out. Fear of what the future holds, fear of death, fear of losing someone or something, doubts about our capabilities at work or as a mother, anxieties about our health or someone we love. Perhaps we can never fully rid ourselves of some fears, and some are really absurd (like my fear of butterflies!), but we can follow John the Apostle. John in his gospel confessed 6 times that he was the apostle Jesus loved. It is not mentioned in any other gospel, but John knew Christ's love for him was real.

We too can know with certainty that God loves us and wants the best for us. All we need to do is read the Bible, which to me, are His love letters to us. We can feed on it, and make it a part of us. The prophet Jeremiah said, "When Your words came, I ate them. They were my joy and my heart's delight."

The Bounty of the Lord

“I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13

There are occasions when God comes at just the right time you just know He’s there. Like when my family was having a conference with an Organizational Development Expert and she asked me what I did the day before. If she asked me what I was doing an hour before I could not have answered because  my brain is like a sieve with holes in it. But amazingly, the day before, I wrote down ALL of my tasks, and it was long and messy and detailed, and even had the time. Now who else but God would give me the inspiration to do that?!?

Every day God shows up for me, and I see His bounty. When I read the Bible, I know the Holy Spirit is there or else I won’t be able to preach to myself, let alone to others. I know God meets me exactly where I am, with all the failures in my past, and stupidity, and messiness. I just have to make myself available. God is the only one who will accept us exactly as we are! No condemnation! That is why we can claim the good things He has for us now and in the future! 

His Gift of the Spirit

“He does not ration His gift of the Spirit.” John 3:34

It's amazing how Waze gets us to where we want to go. Even if we make a wrong turn, it just recalculates, and we can still turn up at our destination. I think that's why God gave us the gift of the Spirit. Because God definitely wants to get us to heaven. Even if we take several wrong turns, if we call on Him, we can depend on the Spirit to take us Home!

Thank you Lord that You called us to follow You! That even if there are forces against us, You will prevail! And we can trust that You will finish the work you started in us and bring us Home!!! 

Go Out and Preach!

“Go out now..and preach..all about this new life." Acts 5:20

After Jesus died, the apostles saw Him several times. He told them that they would receive power, and that they were to proclaim the good news to all, up to the ends of the earth. From timid, scared men who were hiding, they became bold and fervent, and witnessed every where. They preached and performed many miraculous signs. Some people would get healed just from being under Peter's shadow! So you can imagine the crowds and commotion that followed them!

The High Priest and the Sadducees were not happy about this! They were jealous and threw the apostles in jail. But an angel came in the night and set them free. "Go out now ...and preach to the people about this new life!" And so Peter and the apostles went back to the Temple at dawn and started preaching!

Do we realize that we too have been set free? It may not be from an actual jail cell, but sin and death can be as real and confining as a jail cell. If we have no addiction to sexual sin, if we have no need of inner healing, if we are free from depression, if we are not bound by a desire for alcohol, that is by the grace of God! We live in a broken society where so many are in need of freedom. If we are free, let us help others who are not free by giving them the message of life like the apostles were driven to do. 

If we have need of healing, let us go to Jesus and say, "Lord, I want to be free! Pour down Your grace upon me! I need You! Forgive me and heal my brokenness!" Truly God's lavish and extravagant grace, His unmerited favor, is available to all! He is the same yesterday, today and forever!