I like concerts. A lot. No joke.
There is something amazing about seeing bands performing live that gives me a rush, the energy, passion and display of musical talent is always amazing to me (considering that I have tried to play instruments in the past with no success, I just don't have ANY musical talent whatsoever).

But what I like the most is Christian concerts, specially those that more than any of the things I just mentioned above, glorify God.

For some reason, over the last couple of the years I have been very turned off by some Christian bands I used to unconditionally follow, my taste of music has changed a lot. I say this because many modern Christian bands are becoming very secular, I used to listen to the M88, our "local" Christian station (it comes from Albuquerque, which is about 3 hours from here) all the time in my car, but a lot of the stuff they play now just doesn't appeal to me anymore, I don't know why that is. I have also discovered some awesome rappers, who are pretty much most of what I listen to these days, Christian music-wise because they preach the Gospel in their lyrics in such a more real and true way than many of the more mainstream Christian bands out there.

Three of my favorite bands were there among the main performers: The Afters, Thousand Foot Krutch and my main diggy dog Lecrae. Jars of Clay and Mercy Me were there too, who I like but are not in my top rank, they were still pretty good.

Let's start rating my 3 faves of the show:

Bring me to life.

Breathe air into me,

It's taken me my whole life to realize
All the things I've never seen,
Bring me to life.
Breathe air into me,
Take me from the darkness that I've been in
'Cause I just wanna be free,

Bring me to life! Bring me to life!

Right before 2011 started, I came to the conclusion that is worthless to even think of "Resolutions" or personal goals to achieve for the new year, most of the times I have my mind set on doing something that I want to accomplish by the end of the year and then I find myself either forgetting about them or doing something completely different. I guess it is the way that I am wired or something.

There are areas in my life that need work on, many that are out of my control, that God needs to work in and through me so I can be who He wants me to be, that is something that has been revealed to me recently. If you look at some of the blog posts I wrote last year (specially around the summer time), you will see that it seems that I changed my mind all the time about what I wanted to do...that is the key: it was becoming more about what I wanted to do, rather than what God wanted me to do.


Not too long ago, someone confronted me about that stuff, at first I was blown away because it seemed to me that it came out of nowhere, but after thinking about it I realized it could all be boiled down to one simple issue: Humility.


You see, I have allowed pride to take over in the past, as soon as I feel like I am doing good, I allow pride to come in and take place and do with me as it pleases. I have dealt with issues of pride before but it always seems to come back one way or another. It is easy for me to think "look at me I am doing pretty good",  and not give God the proper credit. Other times, I start doing things for myself and not even invite God into them or give Him the opportunity to work and do the work.

So that would be what it all would boil down to this year (and  every year upcoming), to be less prideful and allow God to do the work in my life, to know when to be humble and step down and let others do the work, to not get in the way when God is doing something and allow Him to do it, not me.

From now on, God gets all the credit and I will be consistently praying that God reveals to me the areas in my life that need that improvement, that He will show me when I am getting too prideful and that I know to detect it before it takes over, to not think that I am "all that" and to remember that I am nothing but a vessel that God uses to do His work.

Who knows? This may be a big year full of many changes and I look forward to it.

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

(Psalm 95:1-7 ESV)

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12 ESV)

This verse really encouraged me this morning. As I go out in to the world daily (to school, work, etc), I want to pursue all that is right, godly, and all of the above. I don't want to be complatient or be comfortable or even look at the things of the world. I want to seek God first. It is too easy to do that.

In the end, this battle is all worth it, and God has already won it.

We need to remain faithful to the calling the Lord Jesus Christ has given to us.

Do you really follow Him?
Have you really made that decision?
Are you really willing to surrender it all and go and do whatever He will call you to do?

These have been some questions I have had in my mind lately, not because of being unsure of my salvation, but because I came to realize something in my walk lately...Am I really following Jesus the way He wants me to?

To explain, I will refer to the passage when Jesus meets the disciples:

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
(Matthew 4:18-20 ESV)

This is a verse that jumped out to me as I went to a Calvary Chapel Men's Conference in Los Lunas,NM this weekend. I thought of these exact words and the awesome promise that our Lord makes for those who choose to follow Him. You see, ever since I became a Christian, my walk has been an interesting roller coaster. I've had my up moments and down moments, I've had very strong seasons and others in which I am very content and complacent with life. God has broken me and restored me...only so I eventually start the cycle all over again.

But this weekend, I felt a different kind of brokenness.
As I heard one of the Pastors teach about events taking place in John 21:15-19, when Jesus was already resurrected and spoke to Peter, after He had denied Him:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."
He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."
He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go."
(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, "Follow me."
(John 21:15-19 ESV)

In this verse we see a different Peter...he had gone through a humble and broken moment in His life. The man he had been following, suddenly died, was humiliated and crucified...worse of all, he denied him to the people, he said he did not know him...Peter had been broken. Imagine this in your own life. Now we see, Jesus resurrected and re-encountered with His disciples, Peter included and He asks Peter if He is truly willing to follow Him, no matter what was to happen next.
I could relate to Peter as I was listening to this awesome message (and honestly there was too much in it to write it all down), I felt broken as well. I could hear Jesus asking me those same questions: "Do you love me Luis?" Tears ran down my face and I answered "Yes Lord, of course I love you."


"Do you really love me?"
"Yes Lord, I really really do."


"...Then...follow me"


How awesome...being in that place.
This whole weekend conference was just such a blessing. I learned so much about myself and my walk and what God wants me to do. I feel empowered with His Holy Spirit to be used and share His Good News of Salvation to this lost and wicked world. The key here is to follow Him, and as in my last post, it is not even about seeking a position in leadership, not even about being a pastor or a teacher, but about serving Him, about Following Jesus...and everything else, what He wants for you will fall into place after that.

This morning at church, my Pastor asked me if I would be interested in being a prayer counselor to say, and pray with people who need Jesus, or just need prayer in life. He asked me if I was ready for that. I didn't even hesitate to say yes. In the past I have been hesitant about that, but after this weekend, I feel like a new me has been born. A born-born again sorta...hard to explain and I feel so ready to allow God to use me in whatever way He wants to. I prayed with an elderly couple from my church that have been attending for a while. I feel so sorry for them because they are in so much need, they have children who are in prison, who hate God and want nothing to do with them and I am glad God has given me the oportunity to pray with them. It was a good feeling, words came out without even me thinking about them. It was God's Spirit moving in and through me.

It is a little hard to put in words, but I felt something different.

This is a new stage, a new begining and I am transformed Who knows what God is going to continue doing in my life...but I am ready to follow Him.

This passage in 1 Timothy has been something that I have always struggled with in my mind, not for any particular reason, but I have been unsure of it's meaning recently:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?
(1 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV)

Over the past few months, I had a few friends and relatives of mine get married. It was great seeing each of these couples (to be more specific, it was 5 couples) tie the knot and start their own life in Christ together, as one. While I am happy and thankful for each and every one of them, my mind started to wonder something, I have been able to watch them and notice that it is as if suddenly, they all reached a new level of life of which I am not in yet. I am not even dating anyone right now and honestly, not even planning on looking for a wife.

As I have read this passage several times before, I have looked into the context of it. The ESV version uses the word "overseer", but other versions use the word "leader" and even later on in the same chapter we see similar instructions for "deacons" (or elders), and I have always kind of looked past it and thought "Well, this doesn't really apply to me because I'm not married, I don't have a family to lead." 


So I decided to ask my Pastor about this, since I have been struggling with the meaning of this recently. I asked him, how could this apply to people like me, that are single and don't have a wife or kids to lead? Does that mean I am not qualified to be a leader at the church or a servant at the church? Because honestly, I mean, I live by myself right now, and I often wonder, who can I lead? I don't have kids or wife... So how does this apply to me?


He gave me a good answer that I have been pondering on since. Basically he said that it does apply to me. You see this passage speaks of leading at home, whether you have a family to lead or not. You must be the spiritual leader regardless of your marital status.

Ok....I thought...he continued to explain that I am my own family right now, that I must be leading myself, my walk with Christ needs to be solid and right in order to serve.

It is a tough thing to grasp for someone like me sometimes. I have prayed a lot about this and I have been humbled A LOT lately. I have come to realize that it is not necessarily a position of leader that I must desire, not even a deacon or anything else. It is the position of a servant of Jesus Christ. I must serve and be sure that I am leading myself, that I am in constant fellowship with the Lord, that I am reading, studying and applying His Word in my life. For now, I am single and I thank God for that, because Paul also expresses that a single person has more time, less responsibilities in life and that I can invest that own time in my relationship with the Lord. I have more oportunities to be involved in church and I don't have to respond to a wife or worry about kids.

In the future, I would like to get married and have a family of my own, and while that has been something that I have desired, I have also come to terms that right now, my main focus needs to be my relationship with Christ. Whenever the time comes (if it comes), He will send me that companion, but in the mean time I have an amazing oportunity to serve Him and grow closer to Him in so many ways and that I need to squeeze this opportunity as much as I can.

As I said, this passage has been a constant struggle and question in my mind, and I am so thankful that I got some understanding of it now. I am done complaining about not having a wife or kids and I know that Lord willing, that time will come, I just must continue being faithful and applying the time I have right now and the lack of marriage/ family responsibilities and giving it to Him, so that He can continue using me and preparing me for the things that are to come.