Religion vs Relationship Pt 2

Luke 11:46 “"Yes," said Jesus, "how terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you crush people beneath impossible religious demands, and you never lift a finger to help ease the burden.”


I have come to realize religion in many ways has made us think we have to be fake with God as if He doesn't know everything about of us. We come to church acting as if we are all put together, as if all is well. We pretend we are doing great and we are loud and smiling in church and we come faithfully so isn’t that what matters? We put our fake smile on and greet everyone as if we are just peachy when in reality many times it’s a lie.

The bills are piling up, your dealing with a broken marriage or a painful relationship. Maybe your kids are acting out or you’re addicted to pornography and at night you do things that you don't even desire to do any more. You find yourself in a vicious cycle of swearing and cursing, never praying never reading your bible, never showing people the real you! Never showing people you doubt God and you don't know what to do. You came home late from drinking and you’re at church bright and early and the list goes on.

We have erected a facade. It's a fake. Because of all the religious rules and regulations it's almost as if you can't be real anymore! You act fake and pretend it is all ok. How about we just be real?! These days the reason people don't tell their leaders they slipped up is because then they would be put on religious discipline. Kicked out of the choir or they can't usher and the list goes on. We make people think they have to act perfect to serve God and to serve in the church. Peter chopped off some guys ear while they arrested Jesus, denied Christ 3 times and the third time he hauled off cussing and swearing and going nuts and a few weeks later he led 8000 people to Christ. According to church rules he would have had to sit down for 6 months then be restored. Should sin be openly accepted in the people working in the churches and participating in the worship teams...NO! But just because someone makes a mistake doesn't mean they are to be sat down. There is a difference between a lifestyle of sin and when we fell into a temptation.

Think about it...if your a Christian and serve in your church chances are if you told them you were having a struggle with something they just might sit you down...the bible tells us we should restore them in love...BUT that is religion...it makes us be someone we are not.

In a relationship you can't hide who you really are./ After a certain amount of time it will come out! Your friends will know you’re a prick. Your spouse will find out you are a cheat or a liar maybe even a sex addict. You can try to hide it but in the end 9 times out of 10 because of the love you have you open up. You get intimate. Not sexual intimacy but emotional intimacy which is more powerful then sexual intimacy.

Relationship makes you open up! I went to my wife and as we got closer I opened up! Hey I honey I have an eating disorder for 3 years now. I purge 90% of all my meals since my father died and it’s a method of coping. What happened? She took me to the doctor (found me a doctor because I had none and made me go because she loved me), got me to see the damage I was doing, prayed for me, cried to me about how it hurt her and you guessed it I WAS FREE OF THAT DEMON SPIRIT! I can go on and on but my point is the intimacy of relationship drew me to my healing. In many churches those confessions could have gotten me kicked out of ministry but not to God!

He cares not for religion but a relationship! HE desires to LOVE you, CARE for you PROVIDSE for you and so much more! God loves you! He wants a relationship! He wants you to be real. Take off the mask. What if you dressed how you felt spiritually...I bet many of you would be a total mess...God wants to fix all that. He loves you and cares for you more than you know.... Give him a chance...

Religion vs Relationship Pt 1

So many times you hear someone say it's not about religion it's about relationship! Well...what exactly does that mean? I want to share few thoughts with you whether you’re a believer or someone whose fallen away maybe even an individual who isn't in church or never has been this one is for you.

Chances are when you think of church you think of what you can't do if you started coming to church. You might not go because you don’t have "church" clothes. (What in the world are “church" clothes?) You can't drink, go partying, you can't have pre marital sex, and the list goes on. I know churches where you can't wear makeup (the devil is a liar lol) you can’t go on dates, (foolishness), you can't wear pants (show me this one in the bible), you can't shave, you can't wear jewelry, you can't go to the movies, and the list goes on! I can go on for days. I believe what scares many people away is all these regulations and rules some of which are great and others that are utterly man made and completely unbiblical! If you want to get technical I can show you a few scriptures where it mentions men of God who wore nose rings lol! It's all there read it!

So many cultural rules in churches and so many people telling you want you can and can't do! All these legalistic churches and movements that come along and if you do go to a church wearing pants they look at you as if you had ten heads and they run to you covering you with a blanket or telling you to leave for you are inappropriate etc...Is that God's LOVE?!

1 John 4:7-8
 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love .
NIV

God is love...he wouldn’t run me out of church because I wore an earring...God wouldn’t cover my wife if she had pants or makeup. Those are Man made rules and yes they will point to the Old Testament in Numbers where it mentions painting your face but in reality they know no the context in which the verse was speaking but will twist and contort it to suit there needs. Rejecting people because they don't fit their model of what a Christian is...We have become more concerned WITH THE EXTERIOR RATHER THAN THE INTERIOR! God told Samuel concerning David’s brothers that he doesn't examine the exterior he looks inside. I can just imagine Jesus telling me to leave because I'm wearing a chain on my neck...right.

That is RELIGION! As defined by Webster’s dictionary:

re·li·gion

1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.

4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion.

5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith

This is not Gods goal. God doesn't want you not to sin because you will go to hell or your Pastor will embarrass you NO! He wants you not to sin because you LOVE him! God does not want you to attend church because if you don't people will talk about you! No he desires you to go because you deeply in love with him. He desire for you to pray not because you’re told to but because you desire to communicate with your creator.

Understand this, when I was single I acted SINGLE. Went on dates, hung out with girls I thought had potential, did all sorts of "SINGLE" things. I flirted, I look at all women around me to see if they fit my "type" and so forth. BUT when i found my wife, EVERYTHING STOPPED! Not because she made me but because I love her. I won't disrespect her because I lover her. I won't look at other women because it would dishonor my wife. That’s a RELATIONSHIP! Not that there are rules, but rather there are just KNOWN things that are unacceptable! And furthermore many things I changed that I found out she didn't like...why? Love drove me to.

When I came to God I stopped sinning because I didn't want to hurt him the same way I didn’t want to hurt my wife. I stopped drinking, smoking cigarettes, smoking weed, premarital sex, clubbing, swearing, lying and the list goes on. I stopped because I desired to represent God the best I can! It was NOT because of a list of religious rules. God is not interested in rules he wants LOVE! He doesn’t want your respect because your afraid of him but because you love him. 

I realize that besides being Pastor Luis I am Yesenia’s husband (love you boo). I carry her name even though she carries my name. If I were seen out with another woman and someone saw me they would say OMG look at Yesenia’s Husband...I would be dishonoring her...it's the same with God...that's why people say "and they are supposed to be a Christian..."

Religion has built up all these beliefs and things you can and can not do but in reality Christ goal was not to start a religion but to open a door for you to be able to become part of a BODY of believers that are in a committed monogamous spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Religious beliefs condemn us but relationship draws us closer to God. Religion tells you how unworthy you are but relationship tell you how much you are loved by this great creator...He just wants us to love him back in this relationship.

Matt 22:35-39
 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'   38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
NIV

It's not about religion...I'm a Sr. Pastor of a great Church and I am NOT religious...I’m in a RELATIONSHIP...(more to come on this topic)

Purpose

Every day I awake, I am plagued by one overwhelming and truly perplexing thought..."What is God's purpose for me today..." Truth is told there are days I am so sad because I felt as if I couldn't find my purpose! Days have come where I was to the point of tears due to the fact that I felt as if my purpose was clouded and I couldn't get a grip on it.

I wonder EVERY day WHY AM I HERE?! I don't know about you and I can only speak for myself but the dominating thought in my life is what did God create me for? God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 1 "before you were in your mother’s womb I knew you..." That’s amazing! Put it like this...

Before time ever was, before the universe was birthed from the mouth of God, before the foundations of the earth were ever laid, even before the sun was birthed on the 4th day of creation before Father God directed the currents of the ocean and prior to him deciding the strength of earths gravity...before I was in my mothers womb growing and even before my DNA structure was determined and being written, God KNEW MY!

I don't want to bore you with Hebraic terminology so I won't go too deep but that word "knew" in Jeremiah 1:5 where God declares he "KNEW" Jeremiah is the same word used in Genesis 4:1 to explain how Adam "KNEW" Eve and she gave birth. This word means to have and intimate relationship. It is used throughout the bible to tell us of someone’s intimate actions and here God says he knew us. He was intimate with us not sexually but spiritually. He knew us!

So the question that really changed my life was "What motivated God to create me?" While you read this, have you ever had this thought? Why am I here? What did God create me for? What motivated him to form me and fashion me the way he did what was it?

This very question eats away at me daily! I can not escape it and surely I do not desire to for I have a deep longing to have a purpose far beyond just the regular hustle and bustle of life. I know my design is intricate and phenomenal and I have a purpose and so I question my life daily and ask myself "Luis what motivated God to make you?!" What is your purpose? Webster’s Dictionary defines Purpose in the following capacity:

pur·pose:
1. The reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.
2. An intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.

Wow...that definition in my eyes is breathtaking. What is the reason for my existence? Why was I made? What am I supposed to be doing? How about this one...What was God aiming at when he made me?! These are questions I would challenge you to ask yourself.

You were not created to work a 9-5 job doing something that has no eternal value! Wake up and realize you have a GREATER purpose!!!

Jer 29:10-11
 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
NIV

I love this scripture! God declares HE has a plan for YOU! they are good plans! But as I read this it hits me...why is God telling me he has a plan for me...probably because someone else has plans for me too. Listen, there is no grey area. Either you serve God or you serve the devil...whether willingly or not those are the only two and there is no in between. Whose plan are you living in? What is your purpose?

Listen to what Solomon says:

Prov 19:21
21 Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
NIV
You may have many plans and ideas for your life but God declares that His purpose for you shall prevail! If God made you for a reason I bet it's a really good one! Stop wasting time in your life trying to follow hopes and dreams that have no eternal value. Yes we all want a comfortable happy life with good things and there is NOTHING wrong with that trust me God has blessed me but in the midst of it I am serving my purpose!

I realize when God made me he knew my father would die at the age of 51 while I was 22 and God knew He needed me to lead a small church and take it from being so small to being so large. I realize God has gifted my words and my mind and I see he has blessed me with leadership qualities to guide his people and I know he has called me to change the world I live in and it is my PURPOSE!!!

I had many plans...many desires...but when I got a glimpse of God's desires for me...I put mine to the side in light of how many people would need me. I saw the masses of souls God would speak to through me and I was humbled that he thought so much of me and I will never be the same. Many were the plans in my heart but it was the purpose of God that prevailed!

So I ask you this...what is your purpose? What did the creator of all that we see and know, what motivated Him, to create you?

I pray you soon find out and waste no more time living without a God purpose!

Faith Beyond the Facts

Heb 11:1
11:1 NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
AMP

Have you ever got tired of believing God? If your not a regular church goer this might be easier to answer than if your a church regular. If you do attend a church regularly don't be super spiritual...Just get to the reality that at times it is HARD to believe God.

We are expected to simply have this total unwavering faith in something we can't see! It's kind of like asking you to jump out of an airplane and tell you not to worry because you have been equipped with a weightless, strapless invisible parachute that has artificial intelligence and is pre-programmed to deploy exactly when you need it...right...good luck with that. If your honest, that is sometimes how we feel with believing God's word or even believing in a God at all.

But, in the spiritual, that is exactly Gods expectation for you. Total trust in God. It is so hard at time yes I know I have been there many times. But yet I realize God spoke into nothing in order to create everything. I understand the complexities of the human body are so numerous that it is not by some mere big bang, or evolutionary process that I have been created but rather it was by design. I look at a tree and I realize without them we couldn't be alive! Not only do they create oxygen which is necessary for life but they also absorb carbon dioxide which is poisonous to us. Just take a look at the sun moon and stars, take a moment to marvel at the magnetic poles God created within our planet in order to keep the ocean currents circulating around the globe and take a moment to marvel at the vastness of all the universe and how we are uniquely placed just far enough from our sun in order to sustain life and we can even look at the 4 seasons and how the earth rotates in such a way that it keeps it all in sync. Friend, take a moment to marvel at the concept of gravity that as the earth spins at thousands of miles an hour you aren't toppling over or falling down...It was a moment like this that kind of did it for me...

If this God of all creation can maintain all of that, he can take care of me. I'll believe in him blindly and boldly. I won't ask why I will aske when! I will believe in him and all he has for me! I will abandon my life to live his plan for me for as he plotted out the trajectory of the earth's orbit around the son I do believe he can plot the course of my life!

Faith is believing in what I can't see. As the above scripture notes from the amplified version, faith, is the TITLE DEED to what God has for me! In other words it is my deed of OWNERSHIP. When I paid off my car, the bank sent me my deed. I own it outright. When Jesus died he paid the price for my salvation, so he owns it outright. When i choose to believe God for all his promises and his plan and I exercise it through faith, I OWN IT OUTRIGHT!


I have seen God's provision for me and he never lets me down. Financially, emotionally, materialistically, and even spiritually God always provides! My faith grants it to me! This is what all the men in the Bible were commended for. Their faith. Their ability to believe God without knowing everything. You need to know everything or you won't do anything but God says just listen to me!

Faith says its real even when everything around you says its not. Your 5 senses cant pick it up. You cant see it touch it feel it or anything else but you KNOW God said it so believe!

Abraham was told to just start walking and he walked. God never said walk here or walk there but rather he said go and I will lead you to where your going and Abraham went. Today God might be calling you to believe him in whatever your situation may be. Trust God! No matter how bad it seems. These are some of my definitions of what faith means:

Faith is what you need to accomplish the impossible.

Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof

Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.

Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time

Faith does not ignore the facts, it ignores the power of the facts

Faith is the title deed of ownership for the believer.

It is what guarantees the accomplishment of the impossible if you would just believe…

I know you might be facing some impossible looking situations…

You might have a few Goliaths in your life…

Maybe its in your finances or in your home…

In your heart or in your marriage…I know some might be struggling with sins and it seems impossible that you could ever let it go but with faith I came to tell you today you can achieve it.

Maybe your spiritually stagnant not even caring about growing anymore…just glad your not going to hell…but today God wants to awaken you no matter how impossible it seems…

I know God is challenging many more to take enormous steps of faith in your personal life and others he is beckoning you towards ministry…it seems impossible…but just have faith…

Look to Him…look to the author and the finisher of your faith! He will complete that which concerns you…

Ps 138:8
8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
KJV

I'm Lifted Up By Going Under

 So many times in our human nature we look to find meaning and recognition in many things we do. Whether consciously or subconsciously it is something we all do. For who doesn't like just a little bit of recognition? Don 't you desire a promotion on the job or a raise in pay for what it is you do? Many times our quest for recognition produces an air of pride and arrogance in ones self based on their own estimation of themselves.

Now I realize by this point your thinking to yourself, well this devotional/blog post isn't for me but I would challenge you to read on!

So many Christians are missing the most fundamental aspect of their life in order to be Christ Like. We should strive and look everyday in how we can imitate Christ. The aspect so many are missing is an attitude of Humility. Yes Humility is an ATTITUDE.


Growing up I would hear my parents say "You've got an attitude Problem and I will fix it if you don't!"
Many of us have been there (LOL). I always had an attitude1 Whens the last time someone said you have a good attitude problem? How is your attitude?

Your attitude is the gauge by which the world measures what Christ is doing in you. They can't see the interior so they judge what they see on the exterior and rightly so. If all they see is a bad attitude then what does that say? So how should our attitude be and what should it say about God in our lives? Philippians the 2nd Chapter says this:

Phil 2:5-11 
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
NIV

So yes I added some emphasis on one word did you happen to see it? Jesus had an attitude and it was one of Humility. Yes Jesus had a real big attitude! A big attitude of HUMILITY! Humble is the way!

This scripture speaks of how Jesus saw himself and how he considered himself lower than all those around him. Yes I could go into a very profound explanation of how he left all his majesty and abandoned his deity for you and I and I could potentially write page after age of how this mighty, unfathomable, all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, omnipotent and wonderful God lowered himself beneath even you and I but I rather just sum it all up in a few words like this:

Think of Everyone as better than yourself and that's Christlike. Humility doesn't mean a lack of self esteem or confidence but rather it screams the opposite! your to be so sure and positive about who you are in Christ that NOTHING anyone says can affect you and so you think of yourself as less than them and never elevate yourself in your own eyes.

If you elevate yourself than what is left for God to do? Leave the elevating to God. Jesus was exalted and lifted up because he HUMBLED himself. Don't seek recognition or let pride and arrogance into your heart but rather let God speak for you when others speak against you and let God fight for you! No one is a better strategist than God and he can do things you could never do so let him defend you.

You want to be lifted up? Do what the apostle declares in this next scripture:

1 Peter 5:6-7
6 Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you,

7 Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
AMP






Man I love this scripture. Its a recipe for success and elevation! whats the recipe? HUMILITY! Humble yourself under God so he can lift you up.

Wait let me get this right...I get UNDER God so he can ELEVATE me? You mean I get up by going down? That's AWESOME!

God desires to get you into higher places but not on your time. The scripture above says in DUE time. When it's DUE! Not when YOUR ready but when GOD says your ready!

So how do you start being humble? here's what I am doing...I'm being grateful. I show myself how much God is doing for me and BAM I feel so indebted to God that I can't be arrogant if I wanted to. I thanked him for everything all the way from my toothbrush to my wife and suddenly this shrinking feeling came over me and I felt so small in comparison to this mighty God and I realized my gratitude showed me I was nothing without God and so who was I to look down on anyone from the murderer to the pedophile and from the lawyer to the drug addicts I realized I am not above any of them and with that knowledge I realized Humility was finding a home in my heart.

Being humble is rewarding and builds confidence and authority in your spirit. It leads to being Christlike and helps you in your everyday Christian life. Isn't that what we need? Strength to make it through everyday?

So until the next time, BE HUMBLE, BE GRATEFUL and you will BE CHRISTLIKE! Elevation from others is useless when God desires to lift you higher than any man ever could!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Luis

God is Covering You!

Jeremiah 5:22
Do you not fear and reverence Me? says the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me? I placed the sand for the boundary of the sea, a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass and by an everlasting ordinance beyond which it cannot go? And though the waves of the sea toss and shake themselves, yet they cannot prevail [against the feeble grains of sand which God has ordained by nature to be sufficient for His purpose]; though [the billows] roar, yet they cannot pass over that [barrier]. [Is not such a God to be reverently feared and worshiped?]

Amplified Bible

God Bless You! I'm so encouraged to read this scripture. I am not one to say i have a favorite scripture but I do have a few that truly encourage me and this is one of them.

In this scripture God is speaking through Jeremiah to his people. God is questioning their fear and respect towards Him. He really is asking them why don't they fear him. Why do we not fear or respect God? Why do we not always have his will and desires in the forefront of all we do? Why is God not number one in our lives? That's a topic for another day but so many times he is last on our minds. We should live to please God. The bible declares in Hebrews 11:5 that Enoch was taken to heaven and never faced death because he PLEASED GOD!

What intrigues me and encourages me in this scripture is the time God takes to explain his utter greatness. He declares in power and authority that it was Him who placed the sands as a perpetual barrier in which the sea shall never pass it. God declares he made a decree for all of time that the seas may not cross the sand. 

Maybe for a moment or for a day but they always go right back with the tide and never cross it completely. I relate this to the everyday cares of life. The issues we face and the hurts we experience. No matter what happens there is a barrier in you named JESUS that can never be crossed by any devil in hell let alone any issues you face today. No demon can cross it and no sickness can overcome it. No circumstance can make Him crumble and no situation can surprise Him.

God declared that though the seas make shake the sand they can never prevail! God has got you covered! God is covering us and though we may be shaken we are never broken. Though you may feel the waves of the ocean called life crashing at your shore it can not overcome you for if God is for you who can be against you? None.

Be encouraged! God has also raised a barrier around you called the church to keep you from being overcome. I love how the Amplified Bible declares how feeble and weak a grain of sand is but yet God made it enough to stop he oceans. Hasn't God made the smallest of things sufficient to protect you? I tell you the truth, God has got you covered. Sometimes people around you seem weak or even insufficient but yet God will cover you in everything.

For that reason is not God worthy of praise? For that reason he deserves our faithfulness! In everything you do he covers you. In your weakness God protects you and shelters you. In your mistakes he forgives you and in your failures he accomplishes a work in you. God has got you covered. Stay faithful and stay true!

Pastor Luis

Check Out My New Website!

Hey everybody! I just launched my churches new website GVAtoday.com.

We here at GVA are really excited to see all that God is doing! This new website has access to all our information including dozens of sermons that you can listen to or even download for your listening. Stay blessed and come visit our website!