FEED ME TO THE LIONS!

It's a bold statement! Can you imagine someone saying that? Did you know early Christians were fed to lions and stoned to death for saying they were Christians. These courageous Christians risked everything and knew full well that they could be put to death for what they believed in. Even today in some countries, you can be beat, tortured, imprisoned, and even put to death for saying you're a follower of Jesus Christ. It's hard to imagine someone dying for what they believe in. The question is why would you die? Or if faced with death just say I'm not a believer. Look at Peter when Jesus was facing trial and going to be crucified, he denied that he was a follower...to the point of cursing to prove it. You would think that when someone brings you an ultimatum of dying or denouncing your religion, that you would gladly say your right. I would rather live. It's easier to be Christian when you have no adversity. It's easier to say I love Jesus when you're not being stoned because of Him. The truth is that early Christians so strongly believed in Jesus and His Church that they fearlessly spread the gospel knowing full well the implications it had by doing so. They had a radical and sacrificial love for Jesus and for people. They allowed the Holy Spirit to come into their lives and transform them.

So how does this statement affect us today? We have a freedom in the United States that we can speak about our religion without any repercussions as far as being put to death. But do we? Are we like the early Church risking everything to help people get saved? I believe because we have that freedom that we don't want to offend anybody. We all know of people that are non-believers. We all have friends who we would like to see give their lives to Christ but at the risk of offending them or pushing them away, we don't! Compare this generation to that of the early Christians and I say we have a huge advantage over them. Why? Because of social networking. We have Twitter, Facebook, and Internet. Where we can reach people for Christ at a much faster rate. Facebook in particular; you have friends that do not know Christ yet you don't invite them to Church or tell them about Christ. You would rather preserve the friendship than trying to help them gain their salvation.

There are 3 things that I want people to take from this article. 1. Is that we need to be bold and courageous and speak up for God. Jesus said it himself "If you deny me in front of man. I will deny you in front of my Father" Matthew 10:33. 2. we need to have the same kind of radical and sacrificial love the early Christians had for Jesus, Church, and People. Not to be afraid to love someone that's different. The truth is that everyone needs love and all it takes is for you and I to show it. Take Jesus for instance. He washed His disciples feet. This is the Lord, God's own son, and our Savior washing feet. We need to demonstrate that same love for people. Lastly, we need to use what we have to influence others. The world cares about athletes, celebrities, politicians, and leaders to put on the news and magazines. But we have that same type of influence to the people around us. Again, going to Facebook you have the power to spread the Gospel and Impact lives. But, are you doing it or are you worried about saying something that will cause you to be dropped from your friends list? We need to stop being scared Christians and be willing to be stoned for what we believe in. "If the world hates you remember that it hated me first" John 15:18 Powerful words by Jesus Himself.

So what are you doing with your life? As for me I want to make such an impact for the Gospel and for what I believe in that if the enemy saw me they would FEED ME TO THE LIONS!

HANG ON

These are some very powerful words especially in a time where it's so easy to give up. It's so easy to throw in the towel when you're in a fight getting beat up. When you're stuck in a valley and every time you try getting out...you fall right back in. See what makes life so hard is that we have freedom of choice. Our choices sometimes make life great and sometimes put us in a ditch. We make decisions based on what we see and not what's ahead. What I mean is that we see a road filled with pot holes and we take a different route because we don't like facing obstacles. We want to choose the easy way because we don't want to struggle. Not knowing that those obstacles were put in front of you for a purpose. To make you stronger, to test you in life, and to make you a better person. If you never learn then you will never gain anything. When you hit rock bottom, you have two choices. Two choices that will decide who you are. You can choose to stay down or get back up. See I struggle with not seeing the road ahead and taking the detours. All the detours do in life is slow you down and take you off the main road. I also realized that when your in the basement, you can't go any lower. But, you can decide that it's okay to stay down there. God didn't create you to stay in a basement. He wants you in the living room being a light for everyone to see. Its not easy to try and get out of that ditch on your own and you're not going to make it to the top. Know that you can make it on your own but without God you will never make it to the top. I guarantee you! My good friend spent 16 years trapped in a jail cell. Many of us have never been to jail but we are trapped in a cell just the same. We are trapped because we keep taking the same detours. We keep falling for the same mistakes. We are trapped because we don't bring our struggles to God first or ask for His guidance. For me personally, most of the time I make decisions based on what I see rather allowing God to show me.

So what do you do when you don't know what to do? Hang On! It may rain today, tomorrow, and next week but sooner or later if you Hang On it will stop raining. Recognizing that when it rains sometimes it's better to stay indoors and let the rain pass. What that means is in our lives when struggles arise, we need to take time to slow down and evaluate the situation. There is a line in a movie that I think is a great line. I didn't make it rain, I just have the best umbrella. We can't stop the rain but we need God to be our umbrella to get through the storm. God can't be your umbrella if you're not Hanging On to Him. Hang on to His Word. You need God's Word to give you comfort and peace in your storm. Hang On to His Promise. He will never give you anything you can't handle. He will never give you anything you can't carry. Remember through the rain, you can be victorious. You can overcome. Hang On to His strength and courage. you can't be scared in life. You can't be scared to take some punches or to be knocked down. YOU WILL GET KNOCKED DOWN. But that can't stop you from trying again. You have to fight and work not to get what you need but to find victory. Lastly, Hang On to God's Love. He loves us so much that through our journey the ups and downs. In our darkness or in our victories, He never gives up on us. It's us who give up on Him. It's us who shut Him out. It's us who say we don't need Him or blame Him for the things that have happened to us. For everyone in a struggle...for everyone that is going through rough times...For everyone in a storm right now. You don't have to face life alone! You have a choice. HANG ON TO GOD!

YESUS GITANO

CARLOS

LOSS = LIFE

Have you ever lost something in your life and thought that you weren't going to make it through. Like the pain will never go away. You go through life hiding your emotions and everybody around you keeps saying that it's going to get better. Your tears contain the pain that nobody sees. Your heart struggles and every step gets harder and harder to take. I have experienced that in my own life and with every new day there are new challenges. The devil is great at putting you down and keeping you down. Sometimes God allows things to happen not because He wants to see you in pain but with suffering comes perseverance and then hope. God wants the best for you in any situation. You can be at the top and feel like your untouchable and in an instant lose everything. I became proud and thought I had everything I wanted because it was me not God who worked for it. I stopped giving praises to the only one in this world who should be receiving them above all. I stopped doing His will and started living my way. Our ways are never going to amount to anything unless we have God in charge. Yes I can plan anything, do anything, but if I don't include God guess what sooner or later I will be humbled. Again, God doesn't do it to be mean but sometimes it's to discipline us. Sometimes it's to protect us from a future event that could have been worse for us. I lost my house, my job, and my wife left. For any person in this world, that would've been enough misery to just want to quit. But God's plan is bigger than my plan. God's will is better than anything I can ever see. Yes I lost everything but I have gained something much better. I have an intimate relationship with God. God has seen me on my knees crying. He has seen my heartache. He has seen my suffering and He pulled me close to Him. He held my hand like any good father would and said "I'm here"! I became clay and I am being remolded by the creator of life. How can I view that as a loss? Yes my life is still a struggle and yes the pain is still very real but I have the creator of life with me. I have the Living God who moves mountains, who with the sound of His voice stars are born, massaging my back as I pray telling me it's okay. This great and huge God offers me grace for as long as I want.

When you give your life to Jesus nobody said that your life will get easier. I didn't go up to the pastor and say "So everything is downhill now right cause I have God on my side"? Doesn't work like that. I believe the devil has more fun trying to tempt Christians and making them backslide rather than non believers. Why? I know that non believers don't have the eyes of God so they view the world as normal. Drugs, alcohol, pleasures of sin it's all normal to them. They don't realize that those pleasures can cost them their salvation. So the devil doesn't have to work hard to keep them right where there at. Christians have spiritual eyes so they know what sin can cost them. Jesus said himself "Deny Yourself" Anyone who wants to follow me(Jesus) will lose his life. So what do you lose? When you come to Christ you have to deny yourself...the things that bring wickedness. The sinful nature is pleasure...but a temporary pleasure. The devil knows this and knows what buttons to press for every single one of us. That's why Jesus said "Deny Yourself". When you follow Jesus you can't live the way you used to. God is Holy and pure and in order to have an intimate relationship with Him we have to remain righteous. Does that mean perfect? Not at all...our flesh makes us weak...ALL OF US! Christians, Catholics, any religion. Doesn't matter who you are we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Can't help it...were not perfect. Jesus was the only one and because He died we can be righteous by asking Him to come into our lives and also for forgiveness. Jesus lost His life to make things new...We have to give up our old life to have a new one. It's still going to be hard and you will be on your knees crying and struggling. But you will NEVER have to face it alone. You might lose everything...you might be left with only God. But that's enough. With God in your life you will always have everything you will ever need. God take everything from me...your will is my command. Keep me in your arms and under your grace and I will be happy for all my life. I will praise you because you are always worthy. Take everything I have or all that I am...ALL I NEED IS YOU!

YESUS GITANO,

CARLOS

WAITING

Everyday people go through life waiting. Whether they are waiting for their food at a drive thru, there significant other to get ready, or even at a stop light. We can't avoid waiting but in our society people don't like waiting. People are always in a hurry. The speed limit for California is at 65mph but most drive faster than that and even get mad at people who actual drive the speed limit. There are two types of waiting that I want to talk about. Waiting for God's will in your life and waiting for God's direction in the path you take. So many times we rush into decisions or say something without thinking. So many times we want life to bend and go our way. So many times we don't see the whole picture and were only focused on the destination(thanks Rome). See the truth is that if we only see our destination we might miss out on divine appointments that God has put in our path. We might miss opportunities to really help or save someone. Not physically saving but spiritually or emotionally. We might make decisions that will hurt us more than help us. Life is hard there is no doubting it. But we didn't create life so it's hard to try to control it. Life is like a river. It will carry you to the end but you can't control or stop the current. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

So we must first wait for God's will in our life. I have so many questions regarding my life. What is my purpose? What should I do? What is my goal in life? I ask myself but really I have to trust God. Sometimes we rush the answers and we need to wait for Him. Like the song says I wait for You! If you don't wait for God believe me you will stumble. If you don't wait for His will to be shown in your life, you will never enjoy the fullness of His blessings. i believe that we were created with a purpose and God wants us to live out that purpose. God can take us at any given moment but if we are fulfilling our purpose He will keep us here till it's done(again thanks Rome). So how do we know what His will is in our lives? Simple you pray and wait. You fast and wait. You read His Word and wait. You go to Church and wait. YOU WAIT AND WAIT! God knows what He is doing and when He believes your ready He will show you His will. You have to wait for Him and above all you have to TRUST HIM!

So the second part of waiting that I want to discuss is waiting for God's direction in the path you take. God's will and His direction are two different things. God's will gives your life a meaning and purpose. It helps you understand what you should be doing. God's direction guides you and places you where you need to be. The truth is that God will place people in your life because He wants you to make an impact. A simple God bless you or starting a conversation, can work wonders. But we as a society hurry through our lives that when we say hi, we walk away before the other person can reply. I have seen a homeless man and I hurried up whatever I was doing because I didn't have change to give him. I believe if we see a person who might be down and we took an extra minute to talk to them and pray for them. Or also if we just took an extra second to open the door for someone and greet them with a God bless you. You are making God proud. He calls us to be disciples but many times we hurry up. So we can have more time to be at home relaxing or watching our favorite show. Whatever the case may be we need to be patient. We need to wait because God will direct our path in His time. We need to wait because He looks out for us and will always want the best for us. We need to wait because God will place opportunities in our lives to tell someone about Him. We need to wait because our voice or our actions can make a believer out of anyone. Lastly, we need to wait because God created life too short and to beautiful to miss it. My question is are you IN A HURRY OR ARE YOU WAITING?

YESUS GITANO,

CARLOS

Diamond in the Ruff

In life we are shown a vision that manipulates our minds. Television, movies, Internet has set industry standards that crush a person's self esteem. Losing weight is a billion dollar business. Why? Is it because everybody just wants to be healthy or is it because the world tells you. You can't find love unless you look good. Is it because the world tells you need to be skinny to wear these clothes. Now I like working out and eating right. Not because the world around me tells me to do so, but because I have little ones and I would love to see them grow old and still be able to play with them. I'm not saying don't work out. Life in general is hard but it's even harder when the world measures you by your accomplishments rather than your potential. Life is not about seeing problems but progress. It's not about obstacles but opportunities. Life was not meant to be easy. It was meant to be lived! My pastor spoke on Sunday and said we are to be mirrors. Everybody on this planet is related to someone one way or another. I believe we should all be mirrors. Everybody has special talents, they look different, and act different. I believe we all have the same heart though. God's heart! I'm Christian but you can't see that when you look at me. Unless I have a tattoo on my forehead that says I'm Christian you'll never know. I believe when you look in the mirror you see who you are. There is no hiding. Your past, present and future can be seen in the mirror. So my question is Who are you? Who am I?

People believe in different things but bottom line is everybody on the planet is a sinner. We can't deny that nor can we change it. There is no way we can ever be perfect. When i look in the mirror I see a sinner but I don't see failure. I see potential, I see greatness, and I see hope. I carry God's heart with me and it changes my perspective on life. No matter what the world tells me. God's heart shows me the truth! I'm not perfect. Don't have flashy clothes or a nice car. Not a model like you see in commercials. Don't have a lot of money. Wasn't born into a rich family or a great neighborhood. But, when you see me...you see my mirror! When you meet me, my reflection should bring you comfort and joy because I was meant to love. I was born to serve but I'm not a slave. I was born to save but I'm not a savior. My life can be simple with the basic necessities to live and I still have everything. I may never be famous or have my name in books except for one. Yet, God knows my name and I am written in His book! Being a Christian or non Christian your reflection should always be showing God's heart. I live life because God's purpose lives in me. His Word is my water. His Spirit is my guide and strength. I am in this world but not of it because I know the Truth. My mirror shows my life. Who Am I? I'M A DIAMOND IN THE RUFF!

Yesus Gitano,

Carlos