This [is] the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

This has always been one of my favorite verses. It is a true promise.

No matter what the trials of the day present, let us rejoice and be glad, the Lord is with you, day and night.

We serve a powerful and allmighty God! 

Remember, all is perfect in HIS time. Our plans are not His plans. He knows the beginning and the end and guides us through each step, even if in that moment you doubt or don't see the light. He is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Rejoice! Rejoice! And praise God!

A little encouraging is always good :) 

I went to Mexico City to spend Christmas with my family (which I do almost every year), and some of us went to the pyramids of the ruins of Teotihuacan, which is about an hour and a half from Mexico City. It's the home of the world famous pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. We climbed them both, the pyramid of the sun was challenging, a lot of steps and at a very high and steep altitude, but the one of the moon was the harder one. It's maybe less half the size of the sun, but the steps are HUGE! I would calculate at least 1 step of this one equaled 3 regular steps. It was hard, but when I reached the top, I felt great and accomplished (and a little tired and winded).

Sometimes it is the same in our walk, we face trials and challenges, but once we get over them you feel a lot better and realize there was a lesson that God had for you.

Over the past few years, I have been learning and growing a lot at church, and it seems that just now the fruits of all that hard work is slowly paying off, as little by little my pastor has been giving me more responsibilities and things to do. He says that he has seen me grow and I'm becoming a good leader.

Sometimes I wonder what God wants from my life, I always wanted to do ministry stuff, but it seems to be changing depending on how my growth is, but I know God has something out there for me to do and He seems to finally be revealing it to me. It is interesting how sometimes we take our measure of time and think that is what determines God's. He is out of our concept of time and He knows when the best time for us to do things is.

Patience is something I have had to learn the hard way. I always wanted things yesterday instead of having to wait, but when you wait, the end result is always better. I am glad I never had things my way when it came to the things I wanted to do ministry-wise, if I had then maybe it wouldn't have work out the way that they were meant to, they weren't God's plan for my life and I thank God for the times that He has had to pull me back and put me on hold and told me to wait.

I think of the apostle Paul, the great man that spread the Word to the gentiles, even with all of his training as a Pharisee, God still held him back and had him be trained for 3 years, before he even went out to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I see myself going through the same, I thought I had it all figured out and that I could do everything, but God has showed me completely the opposite.

So, wait on the Lord, it is worth it. He knows when the best time for all that you do in life it, and it is not necessarilly when you think it is the best time, because our pride can tell us many things. Close your eyes and ask God to guide you and to fully equip you for whatever He wants you to do.

For some reason tonight, as I was about to go to bed, I found myself in prayer...but it wasn't just any prayer, it was a prayer of brokeness, and repentance.

Recently, I heard from my pastor that as a church, or even as servants in church, it is so easy to get wrapped up in the "doing church" thing. We get comfortable with where we are and what we doing, that we forget Who we are doing it for. It must always be for God.

As I was praying, I found myself confessing sins, habitual sins that hinder my walk with God. I found myself broken, as I was speaking with my Maker. As I continued praying, God convicted me. He showed me that I need to rid things in my life in order for Him to make the righteous man He has called me to be. He reminded me of my need to depend on Him to get through everything, to give it all to Him.

God is so good, and He has blessed my life so much.
He gave me a great job, that eventhough it stresses me out sometimes, I love doing it and I love working with the kids and hopefully making a difference in their lives.
He gave me amazing friends, that I love so much and that I so blessed to have in my life to daily encourage me, to walk with me and to learn from them.
He gave me a wonderful church that I am so blessed to be a part of. He has blessed me with a great pastor that has literally adopted me and made a part of his family.
He gave me a great family, great parents that I love so much. He gave me my brother and sister, that I just totally love so much.

But most importantly, He gave me my Salvation. He sent His Son to die for my sins, He gave me the greatest gift of all.

My prayer is to be a man of God, to be a TRUE man of God.

Worship songs always get to me at church and this is one that has a very special place in my heart.

Shout to the Lord

My Jesus, my Saviour
Lord there is none like You
All of my days I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord
All the Earth, let us sing
Power and majesty
Praise to the King
Mountains bow down
And the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy at the works
Of Your hands
Forever I'll love You
Forever I'll stand
Nothing compares
To the promise I have
In You

Here is a music video I found on youtube. I pray it inspires you to worship our One and Only Saviour:

 I hate it when people try to give me directions, I guess it's just a man-thing since most men don't seem to like it when others tell them what to do or what they should do. I specially dislike when I need to assemble something and I need to follow a manual. About a year ago, I bought a new bookshelf at walmart because my old one fell apart, I opened it and went over the directions, figured it was kind of easy and paid no attention, as I started putting it together, something didn't make sense, it almost seemed like a small screw was missing, so I looked around and found I had put the wrong type of screw in the wrong hole.
Now it was all a mess and I had to take it apart and start all over again...this time, I read the instructions and successfully completed the project.

It is the same way in our own walk with God, too many times we want to go our own way and think that we know better than what God knows is best for our lives. It is in our human nature to want to have full control.

Something the Lord has been teaching me lately is that, no matter how small or insignificant the task might seem, I need to follow His instructions and not try to figure it out on my own or assume I know what is a better outcome for my future.

Recently, I was given a new oportunity in ministry. To take the "Be Transformed" study a step further and reach the college campus here in town. We plan to do it in the fall, when school starts up again. Personally, I am very excited because it has been in my heart to reach the college kids, a hard task indeed since, this college here is very liberal minded, party minded and sinfully minded. I guess it's the same in most universities, but I have seen how powerful Satan's grip is on this campus. I know I can't do it alone, but only God can do it.

All this has pushed me to pray more and seek God more, since I know I can't do it alone. It has brought me to my knees and ask God "Is this the right path for my life?", which is a hard question to ask, since many times we want to do things without seeking what God wants for us. But I was reminded of setting myself to the side and let God be the main soldier in this fight. I guess I am still learning, because one never stops learning.

Here are some verses that God gave me regarding this, He is so good!

Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies--make straight your way before me.
Psalm 5:8

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
2 Thessalonians 3:5

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

The Boat

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. —1 Peter 4:10

A group of teenagers on a ministry trip in Jamaica were enjoying some downtime with a game of Ultimate Frisbee. But when someone noticed that a boat had overturned off a nearby beach, the game ended and the teens eagerly rushed to the water to help.
There they found a small group of professional boat operators struggling with their craft—trying to turn it upright. That’s where the teens could help. They waded in, put their young strength to work, and together they were able to right the boat.
What happened that day in the Caribbean Sea reminds me of what can happen in the church. The “professionals,” the pastor and others who are trained to lead the church, face a task they can’t do alone. It’s often a struggle to get the work of the church done until laypeople join in and work alongside the leadership.
This was the situation in Acts 6. Some people in the church were being neglected, and the “professionals,” the apostles who were leading the church, realized they couldn’t do everything by themselves. Only when seven laypeople pitched in to help the leaders could the church proceed.
How can you come alongside your pastor and other leaders to help keep your church moving ahead? —Dave Branon
O Lord, help me in every way
To have a faithful heart;
Teach me to love and serve Your church,
And always do my part. —FitzhughTeamwork divides the effort and multiplies the effect.


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I am sorry I have been so bad at posting blogs lately, with another semester of school gone by, I moved to a new apartment and a few other busy moments in my life I have not been able to keep up with my usual publishing rhythm. I will be back soon with a few new things.
Thanks!

From the devotional of Raul Ries. Today is the National Day of Prayer. I was reading something earlier about how it is amazing that we can still hold this day, even with the current administration and all the organizations that want to take God out of everything.

Take some time today to thank God, and seek Him in prayer (well, you should do this every day anyways).

Anyways, enough of my ramblings, and here is the devotional:

National Day of Prayer
“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
According to history, the National Day of Prayer was made official in 1952, but God called us to pray as a nation long before. Today, as a nation, we will come together and seek the face of God, His grace and His mercy. But, have we truly humbled ourselves before Him? Have we turned from our wicked ways?
It is so important to remember, God seeks our obedience and our humbleness. He wants to bless us. He created us because He wanted to have fellowship with us. I am saved because He sought me and loved me, even while I was in my sin. Can you imagine?
It is not enough to come one day a year and seek the LORD to bless our country and the works of our hands. We must be a people who seek Him every day in prayer and the reading of His Word.
I believe the leaders of the past were correct in setting up this date for the nation to come together and pray specifically for the nation, but I pray that, as Christians, we come together daily, lifting up our families, friends, countries and the world.
Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First
Continental Congress, in the first step—humble,
heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the Love of God
and His great goodness, in search of His guidance,
and the grace of repentance, . . .
—President Ronald Reagan—

For those interested, we are resuming the Young Adults Bible Study at CC3C this week. Unfortunately we haven't been able to meet for the last couple weeks, due to problems and schedule conflicts, but we are back now!
Come check us out at Calvary Chapel Three Crosses. Located at 4301 Bataan Memorial West off Hwy 70 in Las Cruces.
And keep an eye open, starting the fall we will be doing new stuff.
We will still continue to have our study during the summer, the break means nothing to our ministry.
Hope to see you all there,
Luis