Christian Music Appreciation: All Things

September 16, 2020January 16, 2023carlocarrasco

God truly knows the best for us and He knows when to act when we the faithful and the righteous make errors or go the wrong way. As clearly stated in Hebrews 13:5-6, Deuteronomy 31:6 and Psalm 55:22, the Lord will never abandon us, He will never forsake us because He loves us. The Lord is our redeemer, reformer, protector, provider and our Eternal Father.

Truly the Lord knows how and when to work on all things for our good…each and every one of us. This brings me to the next worship song for this latest edition of my Christian Music Appreciation (CMA) series…All Things.

All Things was done by Covenant Worship and it was part of their 2017 album Sand and Stars. The song itself is beautiful and also ideal to stir up the hearts of Christians praying to the Lord during Sunday worship service. It is also ideal for other church activities that will involve the use of music.

That being said, below are the lyrics of the worship song All Things, followed by an analysis of its relevance with the Holy Bible.

This heavy load

Was never mine to bear

So I cast my cares upon You Lord

This weary road

I’ve traveled for so long

Would You take my hand and lead me on

–

You are working all things for my good

When I cannot see it

God, I still believe it

You are working all things for my good

–

When troubles come

And nights are filled with tears

I will fix my eyes upon the One

Whose perfect love has conquered every fear

Hold me in Your everlasting arms

–

I see it breaking

On the horizon

The dark of night

Giving way to the dawn

The day is coming

And hope is rising

Your joy will be my strength

Your joy will be my song

–

I know You’re working

In all things, in all things

To begin with, the following lyrics – This heavy load, Was never mine to bear, So I cast my cares upon You Lord, This weary road, I’ve traveled for so long, Would You take my hand and lead me on – means that under the Lord, we are taken cared of and even though we each have our own challenges and responsibilities as a result of our respective circumstances, we Christians are still part of His family and kingdom. Being a child of God does not necessarily mean to have an easy life while living in the flesh. No matter what happens, we Christians must never lose faith in Him. If you are troubled, come to Lord Jesus and believe in Him always. Truly as Christians, there is no reason for us to worry or to live in pain because the Lord is our protector, provider, savior! As such, the mentioned lyrics point to the following holy scriptures for relevance.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV)

Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.

Philippians 4:6-7 (TPT)

The next lines to examine are as follows: You are working all things for my good, When I cannot see it God, I still believe it, You are working all things for my good. To begin with, we are all creations of God and before we were even created, He made plans for each and every one of us. As such, we must live with His Word (the Holy Bible) and apply His lessons into our lives no matter how complicated living in the flesh in the middle of our screwed-up world is. We must never lose faith in Him. We have to keep trusting Him, honoring Him, praising Him and thanking Him! Whatever plans God made for us – good plans and lots of hope – we must keep believing in those plans even though it has yet to manifest. Never lose patience because God keeps His promises always, and when the time comes, the manifestation of His plans will be greater than you can imagine. As such, the most fitting holy scripture for the above lyrics is presented below…

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

The next lines to examine are as follows: When troubles come, And nights are filled with tears, I will fix my eyes upon the One, Whose perfect love has conquered every fear, Hold me in Your everlasting arms. As it is clear that the Lord will NEVER abandon us nor forsake us faithful Christians, keep believing that the Lord always works to spare the faithful from trouble and danger. As seen around the world, there are mobs causing trouble, terrorists attacking people and places, criminals victimizing the innocent, people living in deep poverty and the like. Trouble, danger, wickedness, fear, hatred, destruction, evil, poverty, curses and senseless deaths around the world are all works of Satan who was granted dominion by Adam very long ago. It was Lord Jesus who redeemed the world and defeated Satan, and this is proof of God’s plan for His faithful children to be freed from the curse (of Adam’s rebellion) and live on to be faithful to Him. Do not forget that God will punish severely those who persecute His children. Truly God hates injustice and wickedness! The above lyrics can be pointed to the following holy scriptures below.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

But the LORD is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NKJV)

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Romans 12:19 (NKJV)

The next lines to examine are as follows: I see it breaking, On the horizon, The dark of night, Giving way to the dawn, The day is coming, And hope is rising. Lesson? The Lord truly loves us and He will always be our provider, our protector, our Father, and lead the way for breakthroughs for as long as we are faithful to Him and live by His Word. Under the Lord, we the faithful and righteous children of His will be blessed, be defended, be guided, be prosperous and be filled with His peace. Any trouble happening in your life right now is only temporary and the darkness will be overwhelmed by His light in due time. If you are living in darkness (of religion or unbelief, idols, traditions and rituals) then it you can decide to get born again and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Refer to the following holy scriptures below…

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 (NKJV)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3 (NKJV)

“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

Deuteronomy 8:18 (NKJV)

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.”

Jeremiah 17:7 (NKJV)

So there you have it! All Things is truly a very holy worship song, and I highly recommend it be played by your church musicians. It will help lift your church members’ on reaching up to the Lord during worship service.

In concluding this CMA article, embedded below are YouTube videos of All Things in the forms of a lyric video from Integrity Music, a live worship by David and Nicole Binion, and a short video I personally recorded during a Sunday worship service at our local church. Enjoy these videos and remember that the Lord is not only watching us all but also working and taking care of us. The Lord is truly working on all things for our good! Always be the fearless and aggressive church of Lord Jesus!

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Christian Music Appreciation: In Jesus’ Name

September 8, 2020December 16, 2022carlocarrasco

Hey everyone! Welcome back to the latest piece of my Christian Music Appreciation (CMA) series. This time around, I’ll be reviewing and analyzing another Christian worship song which carries the ultimate name of our Lord and Savior Jesus.

The song featured now is none other than In Jesus’ Name, a very beautiful and popular worship song around the world written by Darlene Zschech and Israel Houghton. The said song is best identified with Darlene Zschech as the performer. Before getting to the lyrics, let’s start with the official live performance video below. Watch and enjoy the song, and remember to praise Him always.

Now below are the lyrics of In Jesus’ Name.

God is fighting for us

God is on our side

He has overcome

Yes He has overcome

We will not be shaken

We will not be moved

Jesus You are here

–

Carrying our burdens

Covering our shame

He has overcome

Yes He has overcome

We will not be shaken

We will not be moved

Jesus You are here

–

I will live

I will not die

The resurrection power of Christ

Alive in me and I am free

In Jesus’ Name

–

I will live I will not die

I will declare and lift you high

Christ revealed

And I am healed

In Jesus’ Name

–

God is fighting for us

Pushing back the darkness

Lighting up the Kingdom

That cannot be shaken

In the Name of Jesus

Enemy’s defeated

And we will shout it out

Shout it out

–

Before analyzing the lyrics, let me start by stressing that the name of our Lord Jesus is not only eternal but truly the holiest and above all names! Learn from the holy scripture below which should help you realize why Lord Jesus’ name is highlighted in the song.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV)

In the above scripture, the exaltation of Lord Jesus is in consequence of His humbling Himself by means of His redemptive work. His exaltation is absolute and His lordship is universal although it will not be universally recognized until His promised return.

Now I can start analyzing the lyrics starting with: God is fighting for us, God is on our side, He has overcome, Yes He has overcome, We will not be shaken, We will not be moved, Jesus You are here.

As written in the Book of Genesis, God created all of us and everything. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

When God created man and woman (Adam and Eve), He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and have dominion over the creatures in the different realms. Through Adam and Eve, God intended to manifest His character and authority (image), and express His dominion over the Earth and display His indisputable power over the works of darkness and subdue His archenemy Satan. As such, God is not only omnipotent but also good natured, a just creator, a very organized planner and a very loving and caring father to His children. Through Adam and Eve, He blessed them and trusted them to take care of the Earth (which points to Him giving them dominion over it). Refer to Genesis 1:26-29 for context.

As we all know, Adam rebelled against God (the Fall of Man) and this led to a downward spiral on the lives of many on earth. Sin became so common among the people. Idols and idolatry spread. Slavery was part of the societies’ systems. Traditions, rituals, unbelief and religion hindered people from realizing faith in God.

Through the generations, people who proved to be very faithful to God and became willing instruments of His received His guidance, blessings and protection. I’m referring to Noah, Abraham and Moses before the arrival of Lord Jesus. Ultimately, the Lord sent His only Begotten Son Jesus into our world to live among people to spread the good news of faith, died on the cross to redeem everyone, came back from the dead and made final personal interactions with those who believed in Him, and ascended to Heaven (to join our Heavenly Father) with a promise to return to Earth. It was also Lord Jesus Himself who stated that one must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God (read John 3:3) and as such, becoming new creations under the Lord was realized (read 2 Corinthians 5:17).

All of these details make sense with the first section of the lyrics and the truth is clear: our Heavenly Father will always fight for us (we His faithful children who got born again and became new creations), be on our side, be victorious in battles we cannot fight (which is why we must always be faithful to Him), and along the way we will never go down for as long as we remain very faithful and always remember and honor Lord Jesus who redeemed us all. And then there is the truth in the holy scripture below…

“And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NKJV)

Next are the following lyrics: Carrying our burdens, Covering our shame.

The words Carrying our burdens in reference to our Lord sparing us from hardship is directly related to the holy scripture below which carries the words of Lord Jesus…

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)

The words Covering our shame is related to the times when God covers His people and proves His compassion when dealing with their guilt. Refer to the very notable holy scripture below. It’s the first of multiple scriptures of the same nature.

Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

Genesis 3:21 (NKJV)

Genesis 3:21 showed how compassionate God is towards Adam and Eve after the Fall of Man happened. Because they sinned, Adam and Eve realized they were naked and made coverings composed of leaf to hide their shame from Him but God went on to provide them with garments of skin which were more protective, thick and provided them warmth. The said garments were symbolic of God providing cover for the shamed. Under the New Covenant, we are required to be clothed in Christ rather than with our good works (refer to Galatians 3:7).

Next are the following lyrics: I will live, I will not die, The resurrection power of Christ, Alive in me and I am free, In Jesus’ Name. In my honest view, these words from the lyrics are related to the following holy scriptures from the Book of John. Each with words from Lord Jesus Himself.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

John 10:27-30 (NKJV)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 (NKJV)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26 (NKJV)

When people get born again, it means they have decided willingly to submit themselves to the Lord, repent to Him, receive the Holy Spirit into their hearts and start new lives as Christians as well as children of the Lord. They also became new creations of the Lord, free from sin and the past of darkness or emptiness. With Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are also spiritually alive (related to the mentioned eternal life). Eternal life is more spiritual and is not limited to living in the flesh. Too many people who are living as lost and unsaved souls obsess with the concept of immorality being about living in the flesh, not realizing the eternal life they can have with Jesus as their Lord and Savior. As such, the lyrics I will live, I will not die, The resurrection power of Christ, Alive in me and I am free, In Jesus’ Name do make sense with the Holy Bible.

And now we can go to the final batch of lyrics from the song which read: God is fighting for us, Pushing back the darkness, Lighting up the Kingdom, That cannot be shaken, In the Name of Jesus, Enemy’s defeated, And we will shout it out, Shout it out.

Not only is God on our side and fights the battles that are too great for us – His children – to handle, He will ensure victory which will be symbolized by His light overwhelming the darkness that hounded many. It is through powerful faith in the Lord in which we can be secured by Him, worry nothing, fear nothing and enjoy the eventual victory coming from Him. Really, no matter how hard or how easy life gets, never ever lost faith in God. If you are feeling disoriented, go back to God’s Word by reading the Holy Bible, praying in tongues to Him and edifying your spirit. We can also help Him in other sensible ways like preaching His Word to others who don’t realize they need spiritual saving. We live in a screwed-up world and there are many lost and unsaved souls who believe that Satan is very powerful and has an army of demons working against them and their loved one. The truth of the matter is that Satan is actually a loser and he only looks powerful through deception, lies, manipulation and trickery. The lost and unsaved souls don’t realize that being faithful children of God will enable them to resist Satan and defeat him. Satan lives eternally only because Adam gave him dominion as a result of rebelling against God in the Garden of Eden.

Of course, Adam’s error has already been corrected by Lord Jesus’ redemption of humanity which paved the way for the establishment of His Body (the Church), the truth (with the Holy Bible), the restoration of humanity (getting born again and becoming new creations) and the realization of the Kingdom of Light (God’s kingdom) which we the faithful can help Him establish here on earth. The moment Jesus redeemed the world, He defeated Satan and a new standard was set! A standard involving faith, not religion, not unbelief, not idolatry, not traditions and not rituals. This holy truth is sadly not realized by the many, many lost and unsaved souls around the world but we the children of God can help them get saved in the name of Lord Jesus. Let us remember His words from the scripture below…

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, He is coming with the louds and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the LORD, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:4-8 (NKJV)

As such, the song In Jesus’ Name is truly holy and I strongly recommend Christian church musicians (and their musical directors) reading this to make it a point to play the song not only during Sunday worship services but also on other church activities whenever applicable. In Jesus’ Name is not only a beautiful song but also very biblical.

In closing this piece, below are additional videos of In Jesus’ Name . Enjoy these and always be very faithful to Lord Jesus. Always be the fearless and aggressive church of Lord Jesus!

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Never be obsessed with anti-materialism

August 21, 2020March 15, 2023carlocarrasco

There is no denying the truth that God rewards His faithful children abundantly. That being said, it is understood that faithful Christians who enjoy prosperity under Him have disciplined themselves and avoided committing sin, specifically covetousness which itself leads to greed, the corruption of the soul and wickedness.

Covetousness is specifically mentioned in the Holy Bible. Refer to the scripture below. These are words of Lord Jesus.

And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Luke 12:15 (NKJV)

What Luke 12: 15 makes clear is that we Christians must always prioritize the Lord for He is the source. The economy is not our source, God is our source! The money you received did not provide itself, God provided it and He is still our source! The nice property and supply of essential goods you have now came from the Lord who worked His way through the existing economic systems to bless you. Prosperity in Christianity is real! Learn from the scripture below.

The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and all the blessings of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

Genesis 39:2-6 (NKJV)

As emphasized in the above scripture about Joseph (who was sold to slavery by his brothers), it is clear that prosperity in Christianity is real. As long as we remain faithful to the Lord while keeping ourselves free from covetousness, greed and wickedness, we can always enjoy riches, comfort, favor and luxuries that He blesses us with. It is okay to be rich for as long as you are faithful to Him eternally. With God’s blessings, you are not only rich but also protected, favored and taken cared of. This is one specific truth of Christianity that a lot of people out there cannot understand.

In this ravaged and divided world we live in, there are countless lost and unsaved souls everywhere. Among them are some people who are obsessed with anti-materialism. To make things clear, the anti-materialism mindset is the extremism some people have with economic materialism, specifically their extreme opposition towards the attitude of getting too attached with the importance of money as well as the uncontrolled desire of possessing a lot of material things. As it is already written in the Holy Bible that Lord Jesus told us to beware of covetousness and that it is truly impossible to worship both the Lord and mammon. The Lord made clear that it is He, NOT material wealth and certainly NOT sin, that we should always put first. As such, the anti-materialism mindset itself is unnecessary and defeated, even though its purpose was to fight materialism. For any faithful, careful and bible-following Christian, being materialistic definitely does NOT go together with being blessed by the Lord.

To make my point, here are my observations about the anti-materialism believers: they believe money itself is always evil; they believe that people are not supposed to prosper; and they believe that the only people to support (by means of donation) in the entire world are the impoverished (the poor).

Clearly things need to be explained here. Firstly, money itself is NOT evil at all. Money is actually neutral and it is a tool that we can use to pay our bills, to acquire things, make investments, to tithe to the church, pay for the education of children and help others via donation to name some. What is evil is the love of money which leads to covetousness, greed and wickedness. The truth below…

Loving money is the first step toward all kinds of trouble. Some people run after it so much that they have given up their faith. Craving more money pushes them away from the faith into error, compounding misery in their lives!

1 Timothy 6:10 (TPT)

As such, when we prosper under the Lord, we should never prioritize money over the Lord. We certainly do not want to step into all kinds of trouble! Being receivers of His provision, we definitely should never abuse the blessings He gave us. The anti-materialism believers simply failed to understand the truth.

Secondly, it is wrong to believe that people are not supposed to prosper. As already mentioned above, prosperity under the Lord is real and those who continue to be blessed a lot by Him are those who proved to be faithful and have avoided covetousness and wickedness. It seems to me that the anti-materialism believers are obsessed with the endless debates about income inequality highlighted by their political idols and they seem to want to literally merge the impoverished class, the middle class and the upper class into one social class of forced equality. I also noticed that the anti-materialism believers are leaning towards socialism, Communism and Marxism, and they don’t seem to realize it. Unsurprisingly, those believers showed signs of opposition towards capitalism.

More importantly, the anti-materialism believers’ views that people are not supposed to prosper is very wrong, and it shows they don’t realize that God is the source, God is the provider and He blesses the faithful abundantly. It should also be noted that the Lord’s reward for the faithful is much greater than any other reward from others! The following holy scriptures below explain why…

Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.

2 Corinthians 9:8 (TPT)

The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow to it.

Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV)

What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor it is the gift of God. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it. And nothing can be taking from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. That which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; And God required an account of what is past.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 (NKJV)

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:10-12 (NKJV)

Whether you eat or drink, live your life in a way that glorifies and honors God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (TPT)

Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others. For we know that we will receive a reward, an inheritance from the Lord, as we serve the Lord Yahweh, the Anointed One!

Colossians 3:23-24 (TPT)

Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, You should be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Psalm 128:1-2 (NKJV)

For when we were with you we instructed you with these words: “Anyone who does not want to work for a living should go hungry.” Now, we hear rumors that some of you are being lazy and neglecting to work—that these people are not busy but busybodies! So with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, we order them to go back to work in an orderly fashion and exhort them to earn their own living.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (TPT)

Jesus said: And behold, I am coming quickly and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.

Revelations 22:12 (NKJV)

See? The Lord’s promise of prosperity is real and His reward for the faithful who labored, we avoided sin, who practiced discipline, who proved to be responsible and performed under His command has always been real! Truly nobody has authority to dictate life and prevent people from prospering!

When it comes to material wealth and capital gains accumulated here on Earth, the Lord rewards the faithful through the existing financial and economic systems because He is a just God. If God wants to bless you with profit and provision, He will do it the legal way and through the financial systems we have. More notably, there is also Kingdom Wealth…wealth in the Kingdom of God so much greater and unlimited compared to the wealth in this divided world we live in.

On the aspect of laboring and serving the Lord, faithful Christians are meant to be rewarded abundantly and accordingly by Him. This means that if your work for Him is great as you run your business, He will reward you in due time with a large amount of profit that you can use to grow your business, pay your obligations, pay your employees’ salaries, etc. Very clearly, the anti-materialism believers cannot justify imposing limits on the amount of blessings from the Lord.

Thirdly, it is wrong for the anti-materialism believers to declare that only those living in poverty deserve donations or handouts. For one thing, God’s provision is NOT limited only to those living in poverty. Poverty, by the way, is never part of God’s plan for His children. Poverty is wrong and it is something Satan wants to trap people with so they will remain lost and unsaved as souls. Poverty itself became essential for those who got trapped by religion and unbelief, and this makes them live life with a distorted view about who should receive financial or material assistance or blessings.

In order to receive provision from the Lord, one must have faith (not religion, not idolatry, not tradition and not rituals) in Him. Also it is part of Christianity to be a blessing to others (giving to others cheerfully) regardless of their background, their social class, their occupation, etc. Any faithful and blessed Christian has freedom to decide to share his or her blessing to others in some way or another, and the giving should be done not by obligation but from the heart and with decision. Remember the God is always seeing us on what we do with the blessings He gave us. You want to contribute money to charity, or help a friend dealing with a financial problem, or give money to a Christian ministry so it can continue to preach God’s Word to others? You are free to choose and decide what to give, how much to give, when to give and who to give. The Lord Himself will never forget to bless you in return for blessing others. The Lord loves cheerful givers! Learn from the following scriptures below…

But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Hebrews 13:16 (NKJV)

Those who live to bless others will have blessings heaped upon them, and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings will be saturated with favor. People will curse the businessman with no ethics, but the one with a social conscience receives praise from all.

Proverbs 11:25-26 (TPT)

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (NKJV)

God loves a cheerful giver! God loves it when His blessed faithful children give to others cheerfully. Just a day after I turned forty-three, I cheerfully gave extra funds (sourced from the earnings of a successful freelance project I completed for a client which was God’s blessing) to our church not on a Sunday but on a Friday. In recent times, I gave to help a brand-new Christian ministry grow as well as to a local motorcycle federation that continually gives back to the less fortunate. I also gave to help church friends who have been trying to raise money for a long trip home. Being a blessing to others is essential, and sharing should definitely not be limited to just one specific group or social class. In fact, being a blessing to others is a practice of generosity and this helps us Christians prevent ourselves from falling into covetousness, greed and wickedness. By being good and obedient to Him, Christians who get blessed can continue to receive His prosperity without ever becoming materialistic! Why the anti-materialism believers and the self-declared pro-poor believers don’t realize this is mind-boggling.

So why is it that there are believers of the anti-materialism extremism around us? Quite obviously, there are sinister forces that continue to poison people’s minds such as Communism, Marxism, socialism, unbelief, secularism and religion (with its idols, traditions and rituals). There are also those who think they are Christian but they do not study the Holy Bible and don’t apply its countless lessons into their lives, instead they end up following man-made rules (written by people who did not write the Holy Bible) which they perceive to be holy sacraments or holy doctrines (that contain derivative and/or distorted interpretations of the Holy Bible’s lessons). There are also those who have been indoctrinated into believing that money is the root of all evil (it is not!) and that capitalism destroys humanity. They don’t seem to realize that God is always watching us and there simply is no hiding from Him.

So what can we the faithful Christians do? We can start by praying for the anti-materialism believers and ask our Lord to enlighten them so they will realize what they believed or have done is wrong, and that they will have opportunities to change themselves for the better – by making the decision to stop moving and turn to the Lord, repent to Him and submit themselves to Him and accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. The anti-materialism believers still have time to decide to save themselves spiritually and we can help them in peaceful ways.

At this point, I would like to reach out to the lost and the unsaved people reading this. You can save yourselves by submitting to the Lord willingly. No force and no coercion here. You have time and freedom to decide. For those who have decided to get born again now, please read the instructions and follow the prayer that I learned from our pastor.

Are you ready? Firstly, open your heart to the Lord and pray this simple prayer in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

I believe that Jesus is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is alive! Right now, I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me by the power of Your blood. Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life! Help me now to follow Your plan for my life. Amen.

Congratulations! You are now a child of God. You have received Holy Spirit in your heart! This is easily your greatest decision ever made and also the greatest miracle of your life. Always praise, thank and honor the Lord. No more darkness in your life caused by politics, radicalism, toxicity, rebellion, religion, unbelief, evil, idolatry, traditions and rituals! Leave behind the darkness of your life and don’t look back to it. With Lord Jesus, you are already moving forward! You also have a personal relationship with God, a relationship that is strictly off-limits to others (even to your household members or biological family members).

With your new life realized, make an effort to acquire a copy of the Holy Bible (New King James Version is recommended), study it and apply its lessons into your life no matter what situation you are in right now. I also recommend you to join a church of born-again Christians near you and find your place in the spiritual family (God’s family). Worship the Lord together with them and always remember that faith, not religion, is essential in your personal relationship with God.

The Holy Bible – the Word of God – is the ultimate authority to follow. Remember always that Lord Jesus did not die on the cross to start religion. He died to redeem us all and showed that we must be led by faith in Him, faith in the Holy Spirit and faith in God the Heavenly Father. You need an encounter with God!

In ending this, here are some Christian worship YouTube videos for you to enjoy and praise the Lord with. Always be the fearless and aggressive church of Lord Jesus!

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My Observations: The SUM International Virtual Campus Days session of May 30, 2020

June 15, 2020June 16, 2020carlocarrasco

My Observations: The SUM International Virtual Campus Days session of May 30, 2020

Hey everyone! I’d like to share to you that I attended something special on the morning of May 30, 2020. It was an online event held via the now popular Zoom app and it was called the SUM International Virtual Campus Days session for that particular Saturday which I got invited to by nice friends of mine involved with SUM. SUM is in reference to SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary.

Before I begin, let me explain what SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary is. SUM is a bible-based academic institution with a purpose to raise up Pentecostal ministry leaders through the Jesus Model of Leadership. It equips indigenous leaders from America and the nations of the world by offering an affordable theological education, combining academic instruction with practical hands-on ministry and personal mentorship. SUM’s mission is to empower these leaders to be instruments of change in their communities. The institution was founded upon simple biblical truths in reference to John 3:16, John 4:35, Ephesians 4:11-12, Luke 9:1-2 and Mark 9:35.

When it comes to accreditation, SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary is highly credible as it has been nationally accredited by the Association of Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), the oldest Bible college accreditation agency, specializing in biblical ministry formation and professional leadership education. SUM is officially recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the U.S. Department of Education. It is also one of the eight regional associations that make up the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE), representing North America. SUM is also accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). To learn much more about SUM, visit www.SUM.edu

Now that things have been explained, here’s a look at what I attended on May 30, 2020.

The SUM International Virtual Campus Days session summarized

Early in the session there was this very welcoming musical performance by SUM-uniformed men and women, and among them were my friends. After that, SUM founder George Neau delivered his welcome remarks and made a reference to chapter 6 of the Book of Isaiah in the Holy Bible.

SUMmusicians — *SUM’s uniformed musicians delivered a fine and welcoming performance. (contributed photo)*

As the presentation went on, SUM emphasized the Jesus Leadership Model, practical ministry and mentoring.

SUMpaulmata — *SUM Visionary Leader Pastor Paul C. Mata on-screen. (contributed photo)*

During his part of the presentation, Pastor Paul Mata (Visionary Leader) explained the online Christian schooling model of SUM and, more notably, he talked about empowering leaders for fivefold ministry.. The fivefold ministry is being done in line with SUM’s goal of bringing in a billion young people to Lord Jesus in His kingdom and this requires having thousands of pastors. That goal is undeniably global in scale.

Before the presentation ended, viewers from different parts of the world were invited to apply. SUM was transparent with regards on how to apply, how to pay, what courses are available and what the requirements are.

My thoughts

Considering the advancements of technology, communication and Internet access, SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary makes Christian, bible-based education more accessible than ever. It’s not just futuristic, it is the modern-day standard in more ways than one. Think about it…you attend a course of SUM online at the comfort of your home. No more having to spend so much time and energy traveling to and from the place of learning (note: I still remember the very stressful times I went through with traveling between home and school during my college days a few decades ago).

SUMscreen — *At SUM’s website are the ways on how to apply. (contributed photo)*

SUM’s model is very impressive and the bible-based education it offers means greater opportunities for learners to deeply learn God’s Word, find ways to apply the lessons in life and get to really know the Lord and be faithful with Him. SUM will also educate learners about the true meaning of being part of church.

Regarding future events, the next Campus Day of SUM is fast approaching. In fact, it will take place this coming Saturday (June 20, 2020) at precisely 9AM.

Before that happens, anyone who is interested to join must register now.

SUMgrad — *At SUM, graduation is always special and memorable. (contributed photo)*

Going back to the institution’s goal, the following powerful words are written in SUM’s Statement of Faith: the Church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointment for the fulfillment of her great commission.

If you are serious about in-depth learning of Christianity, Lord Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit, then SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary is the academic institution you should consider. Visit them now at www.SUM.edu

Welcome — *SUM is always welcoming to participants and newbies. (contributed photo)*

In ending this piece, here is a holy scripture from the Passion Translation of the Bible.

Every Scripture has been written by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.

2 Timothy 3: 16-17 (TPT)

By accepting Lord Jesus, the youth will be protected from suicide

May 2, 2020May 2, 2020carlocarrasco

Suicide is defined as the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally (source – Merriam Webster Dictionary). For so long has suicide affected societies worldwide and left a lot of families very hurt.

If the World Health Organization (WHO) is to be believed, roughly eight hundred thousand people die worldwide due to suicide every year.

What is disturbing in the survey of the WHO on the said topic is that the age-group of 15-29 years saw suicide as the 2^nd leading cause of deaths in 2016. To break down the 2016 statistics, suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death for people aged 15-29 among both genders and the females. Among the males, suicide is the 3^rd leading cause of death.

While varied organizations and researchers have their own definition of the age group for youth, the Jesus Global Youth Day organizers defined it verbally as below the age of thirty, which I personally witnessed during the 2019 Jesus Global Youth Day held here in the Philippines. As such, the 15-29 age group would be counted as youth at least in this article.

Back to the topic at hand, the menace of suicide affecting youth right down to the local level of Barangay BF Homes, Parañaque City made its presence felt when I interviewed Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK) chairwoman Mariel Tumang twice in 2019.

During the first interview (published here), she told me that suicide among the youth in the local community was present not just in the form of committed suicide (confirmed death) but also in the form of thoughts (suicidal thoughts or suicidal thinking) inside the minds of young people.

Then, months later, in another interview Tumang confirmed to me that a tragedy happened when a 21-year-old man living in the depressed community of Masville hanged himself to death because he broke up with his girlfriend (click here). The victim was a loss not only to his family, his friends and the neighborhood, but also for the economy (note: he was already working in the private sector). Tumang stated that their definition of youth is 15 to 30-years-old.

Along the way, Tumang and her SK kagawads (Youth Councilors) attended seminars on dealing with suicide through the aspect of psychology and behavior. Whatever topics and skills they learned, they made ways to make their community youth aware of it by holding seminars locally.

The sad trail of youth suicide also goes a long way back in the form of archived news reports. In January 2014, a 16-year-old boy killed himself inside his house in Cebu City because of his failure in school (click here) and his school adviser confirmed to his mother that he would not be going to fourth year high school.

On April 2016, a 15-year-old girl was found dead hanging from a mango tree (click here) in Talisay City, Cebu. According to the archived news report, a suicide note was left behind by the victim (a stay-in student of a school) and she reportedly told one of her superiors she wanted to kill herself and no reason was given. Before the tragedy happened, her superiors at school found it disturbing that she (the victim) was very silent. Included in the news report was a police officer who revealed that the victim lost her father to insurgents while her mother (who was then linked to another man) was later killed in a vehicular accident with her live-in partner.

What cause young people to commit suicide? There are several factors related to society, economics and psychology. Here are the factors I narrowed down.

Failure to deal with fear early in life

Depression

Physical abuse

Loss of purpose

Peer pressure

Gender confusion

Lack of parental guidance or counseling

Being misled by pop culture or online trends

Internet addiction

Being misled by fake news or distorted news

Getting bullied

Being misled by rumors

Living with negative vibes in his/her local environment (note: in the Philippines, most barangay youth councils have presence in economically depressed communities dubbed as developing communities)

Shame or embarrassment

Being misled by those living with unbelief

Temptations

Obsession with people, images and things they idolized

Becoming addicted to something dangerous

Being trapped by religious traditions, rituals and other restrictions

Having selfish desires or very high expectations

Lack of focus on the Lord

While taxpayers’ money is being spent by government bodies of different levels to develop the youth and help prevent suicide, I honestly believe that the menace of suicide can be solved more effectively by having the youth realize their true purpose as creations of God. It is by having faith in the Lord that young people can truly become strong, stable and more knowledgeable with their lives. It is by having a personal relationship with the Lord that the youth can truly move forward with. If the youth can be educated to reject all forms of hindrances that prevent them from truly establishing faith in the Lord, they would be better off and youth suicide would be reduced dramatically.

Sadly, government programs for youth development remain insufficient to bring the youth to God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

What I noticed is that the Christian faith and spiritual approach to solving and preventing youth suicide is missing among the key development programs of barangay youth councils.

Ironically in 2019, in the city of Parañaque specifically, there were barangay youth councils that organized their own beauty pageants featuring local homosexuals as candidates which most likely added to the suicide factor of gender confusion. This is sad because not only was taxpayers’ money most likely used to fund such events, it gave the youth the false message that homosexuality is legitimate. In truth, homosexuality is an abomination and certainly Satan loves it when people are fooled into believing that homosexuality is good and accepted as normal in society. Let’s read a holy scripture confirming that homosexuality is wrong and evil.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 (NKJV)

As a whole, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 made clear that people trapped by sin will never make it in God’s kingdom. As such, the youth today still have time and opportunities to turn away from sinful behavior, submit themselves to Lord Jesus for forgiveness, accept Him as their Lord and Savior to start a new life with dedication to live under His holiness. This is the good news that the youth, whether they are still trapped by the darkness of unbelief (read: atheism and secularism) or religion (read: idolatry, wrong theology, traditions and rituals) should know.

To help the youth understand their true purpose in life as God’s creations, they should be taught with the following holy scriptures (apart from teaching them they need to be born again as written in John 3: 3):

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, will all your mind, and with all your strength.

Mark 12: 30 (NKJV)

If you then were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Colossians 3: 1-2 (NKJV)

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 (NKJV)

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

Colossians 3: 5-7 (NKJV)

By becoming Christian, the young one can start a new life free from the sins and youthful lusts of the past. As part of getting reformed by Lord Jesus, the new life youth should learn to strongly reject the many form of lust like gratifying sensual cravings (example: losing his or her virginity in exchange for sexual pleasure), desiring the forbidden (example: taking illegal substances), longing for evil (example: bringing down other youth to bring yourself up just to feel good and proud), and engaging in experiences that are contrary to God’s will. These are emphasized in the holy scripture below.

Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2 Timothy 2: 22 (NKJV)

The Christian youth living the new life should learn to conduct himself or herself in an exemplary manner. This is expected because once someone gets born again, he/she is under the Lord and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit. Because really, under the watch and care of God, age does not matter and this also means being youthful as a Christian is NOT a disadvantage. It also does not matter if people will find Christians a peculiar people because this is expected. Learn from the next holy scriptures.

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

1 Timothy 4: 12 (NKJV)

The LORD has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death.

Psalm 118: 18 (NKJV)

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special peope, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

1 Peter 2: 9-10 (NKJV)

Conclusion

I believe that involving Lord Jesus in the lives of the youth will spare them from suicide and all other factors that lead to self-destruction. I honestly believe that no amount of taxpayers’ money spent and no sophisticated government program can be more effective on preventing youth suicide (and suicide in general) than emphasizing faith in the Lord, believing in His Word (with the Holy Bible as the main reference) and applying biblical lessons in life.

Please take note that the dreaded presence of secularism is still in the minds of many government officials (note: there is a so-called separation of church and state in the 1987 Constitution).

If the youth realize their true purpose as creations of God, then it would be great not only for the local community but also the whole world. An enlightened youth, as children of God, definitely would not even think about suicide nor give the devil any room into their lives. The youth should realize how essential it is for them to study the Word of God (the Holy Bible) and prioritize it as their ultimate authority among all reading materials. With the Lord on the youth’s side, the menace of suicide and Satan can be defeated and the youth can grow in holiness as they grow into adulthood. Christianity, not feelings or earthly matters, should be embedded into the minds and hearts of the youth. Because really, everybody needs Lord Jesus and the youth need Him. With more youth believing and trusting in Jesus, cases of youth suicide will be much smaller!

As such, I highly recommend that Christian teaching (complete with studying the Holy Bible) should be included more in youth development programs and suicide prevention programs of youth councils. The youth who are spiritually unsaved must be taught the truth that they need Lord Jesus and have faith (not religion) in Him.

At this point, I’d like to reach out to the unsaved youth reading this…if you seek salvation and are ready to submit yourselves to the Lord, and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then pray this simple prayer in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

Congratulations! You are now a child of God! Praise the Lord and always be faithful to Him! No more darkness in your life caused by unbelief or religion (and the idolatry, traditions and rituals that come with it). Your new life under the Lord has truly begun!

From this point on, acquire for yourself a copy of the Holy Bible (New King James Version is recommended), study it and apply its many lessons in your life no matter what situation you are in right now. I also recommend you to join a church of born again Christians near you and find your place in the spiritual family. Worship the Lord together with them and remember that each of you has a personal relationship with Him. That personal relationship with God is strictly off-limits to everyone, even to your family.

The Holy Spirit is in you and you are now a new creation! You are a youthful Christian right now, and you can keep growing spiritually for the rest of your life. Remember that God loves you and He is definitely happy over your conversion.

As a new and young Christian with the Holy Spirit in your heart, never allow yourself to get involved in youth movements that involve unbelief, religion, idolatry, traditions and rituals because those are not holy. The only youth you need to get involved with are your fellow Christians (those who got born again like you), and the only reference of authority you need is the Holy Bible. Once you get involved in a new Christian church, you can always ask the pastor if they have a youth ministry you can join in.

Remember to overcome fear, never let your feelings (and the feelings of others) weaken your faith in the Lord and now that you have been born again, your sins have been forgiven and your past is way behind you. As a Christian, you must always be fearless and aggressive for you are now part of the Body of Christ (the church). We Christians are the church of Lord Jesus!

In ending this piece, feel free to enjoy these Christian praise-and-worship YouTube videos plus a few ones featuring the model Christian youth herself, Sadie Robertson! Hallelujah!!!

Be the Fearless and Aggressive Church of Lord Jesus!

April 10, 2020November 1, 2022carlocarrasco

We are Christians living with strong faith in the Lord. The day each of us got born again and willingly accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we truly became children of God and we each live with holiness while deepening our respective personal relationship with Him.

We Christians pray in tongues, we tithe, we study God’s Word (the Holy Bible) and apply its lessons into our lives no matter how screwed up the world we live in is. We Christians don’t need religion at all and we reject idolatry, religious traditions and religious rituals. We also are defiant towards unbelief and whatever tricks Satan tries to bring us down with. As believers of Jesus, we already have His victory and not even Satan can defeat us. We are led by the Holy Spirit which we received in our hearts when we got saved.

We are the Body of the Christ. We Christians are the church who follow Jesus! As such, it is only expected that each and every one us be fearless and aggressive under Christ.

To be fearless and aggressive as Christians were key lessons from pastors I learned from. As such, let me share to you how we the Body of Christ can keep on being strong under Lord Jesus starting with being a fearless church and as a fearless Christian. Heed the words of Jesus Himself.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14:1 (NKJV)

Don’t worry or surrender to your fear. For you’ve believed in God, now trust and believe in me also.

John 14:1 (TPT)

“If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

John 14:15-17 (NKJV)

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace, I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

John 14:26-27 (NKJV)

The above scriptures from the different parts of Chapter 14 of the Book of John emphasize Jesus talking about the promise of the Holy Spirit. For that alone, there really is no reason for us believers to fear at all. We only need to fear the Lord because that is essential to gaining wisdom from Him. Other than that, for as long as we stay faithful, we don’t need to fear even the most unpredictable turnout of events in this screwed up world we live in such as poverty, crime, unemployment, terrorism, violence, corruption, idol worship, atheism, religion, uncontrolled emotions, panicking, temptations and the like. Because with the Holy Spirit we are not only protected but also guided and the Lord is watching us from high above. He will not abandon us nor let evil take us away from Him. The words of Jesus in John 14 are not only still strongly relevant but are indeed living words for us to follow! Jesus, who died on the cross, came back to life, spent time with people and ascended to Heaven with the promise to return, is clearly alive!

We children of God are no longer living in sin because, clearly, Jesus redeemed us all from the darkness that started with Adam’s rebellion towards God. We are not only saved by Him but we are also new creations under Him. We Christians really have to be fearless and we are citizens of God’s kingdom! To learn more about who we are in Christ, let’s move on to the next holy scriptures.

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might power,

Ephesians 1:17-19 (NKJV)

I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation[a] to know him through your deepening intimacy with him. I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones! I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power,

Ephesians 1:17-19 (TPT)

And now we, his church, are his body on the earth and that which fills him who is being filled by it!

Ephesians 1:23 (TPT)

See? We really have reasons to be the fearless church of Jesus. By having faith, we will experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power not occasionally, not sometimes but continually! As Christians driven by faith (not religion), we are indeed God’s special people (refer to 1 Peter 2:9) and there definitely should be no room for us to fear. God’s guidance and enlightenment for us are already tremendous making fear irrelevant! No fear, no panicking, no trembling and no doubting! We the fearless church of Christ can move forward with holiness and defeat Satan again and again!

To put things in perspective, after getting born again and growing with the Holy Spirit in our hearts, the Lord, who made plans for each of us since before birth, really planned for us Christians to be joined together as His Body and we the members are meant to be strong, fearless and aggressive! Believe not in your feelings, not in fear but in the Holy Spirit and remember that God and Lord Jesus are watching us. Remember also Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for humanity.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)

Suffering affects everyone. There is no doubt about that. Jesus suffered tremendously so that we will all be saved and pave the way for us into God’s kingdom. It takes faith, not religion, in the Lord for salvation to be realized. We Christians should always remember that our existence is clearly not limited to living in the flesh but also in the spiritual realm. As saved souls, we will go straight to Heaven once we die in the flesh here on Earth. We will go straight to God’s kingdom and take our respective places in it. There is no such thing as purgatory, an ancient deception of religious and evil nature! Purgatory is a lie created by the enemy who clearly influenced religious teachings and religious traditionalists which resulted distorted teachings of Christianity (by religion-driven people and institutions). We Christians have the Word of God (the Holy Bible) as the definitive and ultimate reference of faith! Upon death in this world, we the children of God will go straight to Him in His kingdom! There is nothing to fear!

Let’s move on.

And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:4 (NKJV)

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV)

With the Holy Spirit in us, God made a way for us to know Him and His presence. We Christians get to know Him as individual members and as a church gathered together. Even when we have nobody around us, we Christians are never really alone because we have a living personal relationship with God. We can communicate with God privately when alone and the effective way to do it is to be in our respective rooms with the door shut and pray to Him (refer to Matthew 6: 6). We have access to Him! Again, there is no room for fear nor despair here. With God, nothing is impossible and this leads me to the next holy scripture.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NKJV)

Treasure refers to the knowledge of God in the face of Christ. Earthen vessels are weak and breakable. The above scripture emphasizes how weak we are living in the flesh and yet we can live spiritually strong under the Lord. See the paradox? As our pastor taught us, we can only live in the flesh up to one hundred and twenty years maximum. Of course, being children of God living here on Earth, we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts and we really have missions to live in holiness, spread God’s Word and save the many billions of unsaved and lost souls before we expire and go to Heaven to join Him. Remember, with God, nothing is impossible and our being fragile as fleshly beings here on Earth should never be taken as a hindrance nor should we let it prevent us from being the fearless church of Lord Jesus!

Now that being fearless Christians has been discussed a lot already, we can move on with discussing being aggressive Christians! Let’s start with the armor God provides us in the next holy scripture.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Ephesians 6:11-13 (NKJV)

With God’s armor provided, we are already protected in the fight against evil. As members of the Body of Christ, we have the means to move forward strongly, defeat Satan and saved the many unsaved souls. Take note that in the above scripture, our battle is spiritual and not physical. We should always be able to discern between the spiritual struggle and the personal, the political and the social difficulties. We should focus on defeating Satan and his force of evil, not human adversaries. That means being aggressive with our prayers, and becoming established prayer warriors of Lord Jesus! We have the spiritual resources, the authority of Christ over evil and the Lord’s will to display His wisdom through the church (that means us Christians). No place for fear here and we have a lot of reasons to be aggressive as Christians!

Next scripture…

The LORD shall go forth like a might man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

Isaiah 42:13 (NKJV)

Isaiah 42:13 emphasizes that we the Children of God already have a leader (the Lord Himself) to follow as well as strength to rely on so that we can strive forward. That being said, we really have to be aggressive with our prayers, our faith and spirituality since we also have the Holy Spirit in us. There is simply no room for weakness nor fear for Christians. This should also serve as a reminder, especially to the new Christians (and the souls that need to be saved) reading this, that we Christians need to be edified. Edification itself requires aggressiveness with our faith and dedication under the Lord. Apart from studying the Holy Bible and praying in your room with the door shut, you can also do other things to strengthen yourself spiritually like praying in tongues while walking around the block or around your house.

To be aggressive with our Christianity is not a seasonal thing but rather a truly, more regular thing in our lives under the watch of God. Be a prayer warrior, a Holy Bible-oriented Christian, a preacher, a tither, a helper and spread goodness to save the unsaved souls for the rest of your life in the flesh while waiting for the return of Lord Jesus. Be a doer of the Word of God! Now on to the next verse.

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, be a prayer warrior with God’s Word as your definitive reference and your heart remaining open always to the Lord. We need to pray daily and this includes praying in tongues (for enlightenment read the first ten chapters of the Book of Acts in the Holy Bible). Don’t waste your time and energy on repetitive prayers (read Lord Jesus’ own words in Matthew 6:7-8) and remember the Model Prayer from Lord Jesus. Don’t give up praying to the Lord no matter what the situation is around you. Be aggressive with prayer! Be a prayerful Christian who is truly connected with the Lord! On to the next verse…

Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 (NKJV)

Those were powerful words from God Himself, declared before Adam rebelled against Him (which was preceded by Satan as a serpent tempting Eve). Right from the start, God made tremendous plans for us – His creations – to populate the Earth and have His authority to rule over the creatures. Thousands of years after Adam’s rebellion, Jesus came and sacrificed Himself to redeem humanity and restore mankind to fulfill God’s plan. As Christians who got born again and saved, we are God’s children and He wants us to save the lost and unsaved souls around us using His Word. Being a fearless and aggressive church is in accordance to God’s plan.

Once your goodness and holiness have been noticed by others, they will have the opportunities to pause, reflect and eventually decide to be saved without any force imposed on them. Heed the words of Lord Jesus in the following scripture…

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)

To be fearless and aggressive as Christians is inevitable. We are the children of God and we are the church of Lord Jesus. We are the Body of Christ and under His holiness, we have common purposes to live up to even as each of us maintains (and deepens) our respective personal relationship with God.

Go to work with the Holy Spirit! Be led by the Holy Spirit! Defy darkness, unbelief, religion, idols, relics, images, traditions and rituals. Move forward as a fearless, confident and aggressive Christian! Force is not necessary, but the Word of God is essential to shed light on the world that has long been darkened by Satan. We the children of God have the means to defeat Satan again and saved the unsaved souls! We the children of God have the Lord’s authority!

Now, I’d like to reach out to the lost souls and the unsaved souls reading this. Please read closely and open your hearts.

If you seek salvation now, learn that the first step is to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Never be fooled into believing that your past defined you and your future. With Jesus, you will become a child of God and a whole new creation complete with your sins from the past washed away! You will become a true Christian with a holy purpose!

Once you are ready, pray this simple prayer (I learned from my pastor) in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

I believe that Jesus is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to pay the penalty of my sins. I believe that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that He is alive! Right now I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my personal Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me by the power of Your blood. Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life! Help me now to follow Your plan for my life. Amen.

Congratulations! You are now a child of God! Praise the Lord and always be faithful to Him! No more darkness in your life caused by unbelief or religion (and the idolatry, images, traditions and rituals that come with it). Your new life has begun and you are now a member of the Body of Christ. Now find a Christian church in your local community to connect with.

In ending this, here are some videos of Christian worship music for you to enjoy and praise the Lord with.

If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/

Never Let Your Feelings Weaken Your Faith in The Lord

April 4, 2020May 26, 2023carlocarrasco

It is simply too easy for us people to let our feelings dominate us and lead ourselves to undesirable outcomes in life. There are times that we make decisions not based on faith but based on how we feel at the moment. Even worse, is carrying wrongful feelings for long even to the point of putting ourselves in a crisis.

To get to the point, feelings are part of our living in the flesh but as Christians who got born again and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we must always remind ourselves and even orient the unsaved souls the truth that faith in God is much more essential than feelings. Let’s start with a bible verse.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV)

The verse above is about moving by faith, not by feelings and not by the limitations of our perception and understanding. When you trust the Lord, you do it wholeheartedly and not because you relied on the inaccurate indications of your feelings deep inside. You should not rely on your feelings to do something with your faith. Remember that God’s kingdom is not of this world we live in which is full of unfortunate events or things that move people’s perception and feelings almost all the time.

Let me cite an example here. Imagine yourself anticipating a blockbuster movie you waited months for and already you secured in advance a ticket for a specific time slot for opening day. Suddenly, as your drive on the way to the movie theater, you received a call from a family member who needs you to go to the bank to do a very essential transaction which ultimately prevents you from watch that movie. The natural effects of such a scenario are disappointment, anger and, worse, resentment. In other words, negative feelings fill your heart which should never be because you already have the Holy Spirit in your heart. You should always be led by the Holy Spirit, not your feelings.

In the Kingdom of God as well as in the Body of Christ (we Christians are the church), we are supposed to be pure in heart and be living with the holiness of the Lord. Feelings, whether negative or positive, are not essential and they are never meant to be utilized as indicators on how we live, what we do and what we think of. As Christians, we are supposed to be more reasonable and be wiser under the watch of the Lord. Always remember that while you can hide your feelings from people, you can never ever hide those feelings from God. Remember that whatever feelings we have here on Earth are meaningless in the spiritual realm.

Let’s examine some notable examples of life that cause people to feel (and then giving in to those feelings) while they live in the flesh.

First example is unbelief. You see those secularists or atheists who speak out loud on TV or on social media? They often reject God and deny His existence. They believe that humans can exist, remain moral and prosper without God, without faith (or religion as they often call it) and without discipline. Those secularists and atheists can easily offend the feelings of a Christian at first. However, any anointed and mature Christian would always know to prioritize God and maintain faith in Him instead of giving in to feeling offended or feeling weakened by those who have no faith. Remember this always and go around telling your fellow Christians to never give in to their feelings and never ever let unbelief dominate them. Remind them of being faithful to the Lord. Remind them that they already have the victory of the Lord over Satan. Let’s read the following scripture from the Holy Bible.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

John 16:33 (NKJV)

Wow! Those were powerful words from Lord Jesus Himself! He achieved a major victory that nobody else could ever match – redeeming the whole world by sacrificing Himself, then returned to enlighten more with holiness before ascending to Heaven! Jesus holiness is very real and there truly is a God who created us, accepted us as His children when we got born again and blessed us since. The truth of Christianity shows that there is no good reason at all as to why we Christians should surrender to our feelings and allow the non-believers to drag us down to their level. We Christians are not only believers but are also citizens of God’s Kingdom complete with armor, weapons and other spiritual means that with Him, we are more than conquerors. Moving on, let’s read the next holy scripture.

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 2:14 is another clear example as to why we the faithful are living in victory. Unbelief combined with feelings are actually a weak combination and we Christians are never meant to allow ourselves to be defeated by them. We are spiritually stronger under God. Always remember that!

Secularists and atheists are more likely to manipulate other people (those with weaker faith or even none at all) through their feelings and then trap them into accepting unbelief. This is sad but not hopeless for us Christians. We can unite and pray to the Lord that unbelief will be overwhelmed and then time will come that the secularists and atheists will realize the errors of their ways and soon will decide willingly to apologize to the Lord and submit to Him peacefully. We can also pray for the victims as well as all the unsaved and lost souls who embraced unbelief. Remember that unbelief is a weapon of the ever-stubborn loser Satan. We can always defeat Satan by remaining strongly faithful with God and preach His Word to this screwed-up world we live in.

The next example that spark feelings in people is religion which is often confused with faith. To put it in simple terms, religion is a deeply flawed approach of worshipping the Lord as it involves a lot of man-written rules, sacraments and a bunch of other stuff that are not really holy. Having gone through a past life of religion (followed by a short life of unbelief) myself, I confirm the truth that religion is frustrating (this is the most notable feeling) and is actually a hindrance to achieving truth faith in the Lord.

Religion involves idolatry (worshiping people, images and man-made items) which is very wrong as confirmed by the following holy scripture.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NKJV)

Think about the sin of idolatry carefully. You worship a person, that makes you unrighteous. You pray to a statue or statuette, that makes you unrighteous. You pray to a painting or a relic, that makes you unrighteous. You keep on practicing idolatry, it will impact you to developing a whole bunch of unnecessary feelings deep inside you which will give you a false perception of faith in the Lord (which you are not really achieving). In religion, idolatry is also a tradition falsely believed to be holy. Be aware that idolatry itself makes religion unholy and our Heavenly Father is a jealous God. Even Satan uses religion and idolatry is a useful tool for him to prevent people from being with God. Learn from the following scriptures.

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:3-6 (NKJV)

Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:4 (NKJV)

Apart from idolatry, religion also comes with its own traditions that were not made by God’s chosen people who wrote the Holy Bible. Such traditions trap people and make them more emotional and prone to being dictated by their feelings. This alone should be of deep concern for anyone seeking the Lord. In my old life, I practiced religious traditions of visiting seven churches of religion, praying with repetitive prayers, praying with a relic that was never holy, submitting to a religious hierarchy that has a history of abuse and corruption for centuries, praying to man-made objects, forcefully getting pushed to participate in a religion-driven brainwashing event called family encounter (now a tradition for a certain group religious people here in the Philippines), participating in a religion-based youth movement (also a tradition for the above-mentioned group of people) and the like. So I went through all of that in my old life and ultimately I really never got connected with the Lord, nor was I ever able to discover the ways to establishing a true personal relationship with Him.

Religion and its traditions, rituals, idolatry and culture of forceful imposition deeply frustrated me. This is the ultimate feeling I had long ago. Because religion was hollow, mean and so frustrating to me, I rejected religion and, incidentally, I got myself separated from the Lord which is why there was a period of almost ten years in which I lived a non-believer. I even became antagonistic towards the Lord and Christianity as whole. All that time before, I did not realize that faith and religion are not one and the same. I also had not discovered back then that it was possible to be with God without religion.

And then, when I was a little over forty-years-old, something wonderful and holy happened. My dearest friend in life invited me to her church to attend a holy seminar. I attended with her and the many church members (the Body of Christ) present, just behaving myself since I was still a non-believer. I was still living in darkness (which started since my old life with religion). After attending that event, meeting the pastor and brought home with me a holy bible that was given to me, I saw the light again and eventually I willingly got born again. I became a new creation, a true Christian and a child of God. The darkness of religion and unbelief that overwhelmed me ended and I have no desire to go back to my old life ever again.

Since then, I attended Sunday worship regularly and also participated in bible study sessions and holy seminars to grow spiritually and deepen my established personal relationship with God. Along the way, I learned from our pastor that our faith in the Lord should never be dominated nor affected by our feelings which is the precise topic of this article. To end this part, religion is truly frustrating and unnecessary. Being religious is not the same as being faithful with the Lord.

Another factor that sparks feelings in us is Satan. The enemy knows well that feelings, emotions and sentimentalism are effective weapons for him to dumb us Christians down, and worse, overwhelm people who are not aware of their true purpose under God. The enemy would not hesitate to use a person or an event to arouse our feelings inside to keep us distracted from being focused Christians. Satan is also known to spread temptation which itself sparks feelings.

Take for example, an earthquake rocks and heavily damages a major city causing a lot of deaths, injuries and property damage. That tragedy gets magnified by the morally bankrupt cable TV news organizations which only cause viewers around the world to feel sad, sorry, fearful and even defeated. Such tragedies that spark tons of feelings to weaken people delight Satan. We as children of God should never ever allow our feelings nor our perception of magnified tragedies overwhelm our faith in the Lord. We the Christians have been redeemed by Jesus long ago and it is our mission to always remain focused and very strong with faith in Him. We the children of God are not mere followers but we are special and we have a much greater purpose in the spiritual realm even though we are still living in the flesh on this world that Satan had screwed-up long ago. Learn from the following scripture.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:10-20 (NKJV)

Those were such powerful words! More than that, Ephesians 6: 10-20 confirms the truth that we the faithful should always be strong in the Lord and with Him, we have the means to overcome Satan and all other forces of evil. That also includes completely defying the feelings we have while living in the flesh. That being said, we the children of God have no reason to be fearful at all. We only fear the Lord because it leads to wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), strong confidence (Proverbs 14:26) and opposing evil (Proverbs 8:13).

Satan is not as powerful as most people think. He is simply a loser who just refuses to stop and will continue to exploit the weak to screw up many people and spread chaos worldwide. War, famine, riots and pandemics are such examples of global tragedies with people falling for Satan’s tricks and failing to keep strong faith in God.

We the children of God know much better. Therefore, Satan’s strategy of using chaos (being magnified by the global news media giants), fear and negative vibes to bring us down through our feelings can be deflected for as long as we continue to be strong with God. It is a matter of being faithful over being full of feelings.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying feelings are totally useless. As God’s children living in the flesh here on Earth, it is okay to have feelings like the happiness that comes with being with the family or a special someone, the deep satisfaction we have inside as we enjoy the prosperity and protection God blessed us with, etc.

We can live with feelings but we always prioritize our faith in the Lord eternally. We can keep on living with feelings but we must not be led by them because we were created by God to be led by the Holy Spirit. We were not created to be religious but to be faithful Christians.

Now let me reach out to the unsaved souls and the lost souls among you, my readers…

Once you are ready, pray this simple prayer (I learned from my pastor) in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

Always study the Holy Bible, apply its lessons into your life and pray in tongues regularly to Him. The Holy Spirit is in you and you are now a new creation! You can also start your spiritual growth immediately under the eyes of the Lord! Today is a happy day for you!

In ending this piece, feel free to enjoy these Christian praise-and-worship YouTube videos. Hallelujah!!!

Declare Your Love for God

March 25, 2020December 26, 2022carlocarrasco

For months now, people and governments around the world have been struggling with fear, anxiety, uncertainty and even death due to infectious microbes. No matter what happens, we as Christians who accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior should never lose faith. It is faith in the Lord that spares us from disaster, poverty and evil. Of course, we Christians each have our own respective challenges in life to overcome and the ongoing crisis is the newest, major challenge for this particular time of the 21^st century that happens to affect a lot of people around the world.

No matter how bad and depressing life becomes, we Christians must always put God first in everything we do. This includes constantly reading the Holy Bible (the Word of God), praying to Him, deepening our relationship with Him and applying His Word into our daily lives. We keep strong faith in Him and in due time, we will see God’s continual blessing in our lives.

Being faithful Christians, we certainly should never let religion, unbelief, idolatry, tradition and rituals hinder us from living with God’s Word and holiness. We are members of the Body of Christ. We are the church! Refer to 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 in the Holy Bible.

Therefore, as Born Again people, we should declare that God’s love is with us and nothing will separate us from Him. We must always declare our love for Him in addition to thanking and honor Him! We are not mere mortals for we are God’s creations with a holy purpose. We are tasked to spread God’s Word and help the Lord save the many, many unsaved and lost souls around the world. Remember, true faith in the Lord does NOT include force nor coercion nor shaming nor idolatry. As such, we emphasize God’s Word to others gently and always let them decide on their own whether to accept the Lord or not. After all, each and every person has a personal relationship with God which is strictly off limits to everyone else (even the biological family).

Moving on, let’s read a scripture from the Holy Bible.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

Galatians 3:13 (NKJV)

We all know that Adam’s rebellion towards God marked the downfall of humanity which lasted for many generations as recorded in the Holy Bible. Even though humanity was sinful, God never wiped humanity away because He planned for grand redemption and restoration to happen. In His greatest expression of love for us all, He sent us His only begotten Son Jesus. When His time came, Lord Jesus never despised the cross and went on to die for us all for redemption. It was Lord Jesus’ work, not ours, that removed the curse upon humanity. To express it in a different way, it was the blood of Jesus that cleansed us all! Satan was defeated! Jesus got resurrected and spread more of His holy enlightenment to those who witnessed His return. Then He ascended to Heaven to join God, our Heavenly Father. A promise was made by Jesus to return. Jesus is alive, always!

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39 (NKJV)

Romans 8:35-39 makes clear that as children of God who were saved, we have no reason to despair, no reason to live in fear and no reason to be defeated. We have the love of the Lord that lasts eternally and also the Holy Spirit is in our hearts! Even in hardships that we are experiencing now personally and globally, we can be more than conquerors because we are God’s children! We are faithful and we can excel in life as long as we put God first, we remain faithful to Him and execute His Word to save all the unsaved souls around us! We have a relationship with God and nothing can separate us from Him.

To you who are reading this, if you are living with darkness (caused by unbelief or religion or deep ignorance), it is not too late for you to be born again. No less than Lord Jesus emphasized the point of being born again in John 3:3 in the Holy Bible. You can become a true Christian and an actual child of God by getting born again and willingly accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Now we go to Chapter 91 of the Book of Psalm in both New King James Version and the Passion Translation.

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from perilous pestilence.

Psalm 91:2-3 (NKJV)

He’s the hope that holds me and the Stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me, and my great confidence. He will rescue you from every hidden trap of the enemy, and he will protect you from false accusation and any deadly curse.

Psalm 91:2-3 (TPT)

The scriptures above point out that God, who is the Creator, the Source and Provider, is our stronghold (refuge) that we can always rely on and never worry about anything. Not even a global financial crash, nor a plague nor a major natural disaster nor someone very evil could crush us spiritually for as long as we are faithful to Him. We are God’s children and He will always protect us, deliver us from trials and He will fight and defeat the enemy for us. Remember that contrary to the teachings by religion-minded authorities, Satan has always been a loser and with God on our side, we can keep on defeating and rejecting Satan. That being said, always let the Holy Spirit lead you.

One more scripture.

Keep you heart with all diligence. For out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV)

It is essential for us to keep our hearts. This mean valuing and protecting our minds, emotions and will. We all live in a screwed-up world with lots of problems plaguing people all around us. Even with all the hassle and problems, we should never lose faith in the Lord.

Now let me address the unsaved readers among you…

If you seek salvation now, learn that the first step is to receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Never be fooled into believing that your past defined you and your future. With Jesus, you become a child of God and a whole new creation! A true Christian with a holy purpose!

Once you are ready, pray this simple prayer in sincerity from your heart:

Dear God,

Always read the Holy Bible, apply its lessons into your life and pray in tongues regularly to Him. The Holy Spirit is in you and you are now a new creation! Declare your love for God!

Christian Music Appreciation: King of Kings

February 4, 2020February 18, 2025carlocarrasco

King of Kings is one of my favorite Christian praise-and-worship songs right now. The first time I saw it performed was inside a Christian church in Alabang Hills Village, Muntinlupa City and it resonated with me a lot ever since.

Checking out the song online, it is best identified with Hillsong Church’s musicians. To get things started, here are two YouTube videos about King of Kings embedded for you.

And now below are the lyrics. The song was written by Jason Ingram, Brooke Ligertwood and Scott Ligertwood. To make a point here, King of Kings highlights us Christians praising God, Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

VERSE 1:
In the darkness we were waiting
Without hope without light
Till from heaven You came running
There was mercy in Your eyes
To fulfil the law and prophets
To a virgin came the Word
From a throne of endless glory
To a cradle in the dirt

CHORUS:
Praise the Father
Praise the Son
Praise the Spirit three in one
God of glory
Majesty
Praise forever to the King of Kings

VERSE 2:
To reveal the kingdom coming
And to reconcile the lost
To redeem the whole creation
You did not despise the cross
For even in Your suffering
You saw to the other side
Knowing this was our salvation
Jesus for our sake You died

VERSE 3:
And the morning that You rose
All of heaven held its breath
Till that stone was moved for good
For the Lamb had conquered death
And the dead rose from their tombs
And the angels stood in awe
For the souls of all who’d come
To the Father are restored

VERSE 4:
And the Church of Christ was born
Then the Spirit lit the flame
Now this gospel truth of old
Shall not kneel shall not faint
By His blood and in His Name
In His freedom I am free
For the love of Jesus Christ
Who has resurrected me

Praising the Lord directly and very highly is undoubtedly essential. To truly live in holiness under God, we must reject all sins for they separate us from the Lord. Among those many sins that keep many from being saved is idolatry (refer to idolaters as sinners as written in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the Holy Bible) which is still being practice worldwide by those living with religion and those living as unbelievers.

As I already wrote separate pieces about idolatry (click HERE and HERE), idols, both people and those man-made objects (paintings, statues, statuettes, relics, etc.) are forms of abomination to the Lord. We are supposed to worship God, Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit directly and exclusively. Forget about that human idol (who does NOT deserve worship at all) and get rid of those relics, statues, statuettes and images because all of those are Satan’s tools to separate us from the Lord. Religion, unbelief and idolatry are all tools of Satan against us and the Lord.

Our praise is only meant for the Lord and this involves faith!

Going back to the song, the chorus of Praise the Father, Praise the Son, Praise the Spirit three in one, God of glory, Majesty, Praise forever to the King of Kings is a very lively reminder of a key aspect being a real Christian. The Lord deserves ALL of our praise! Here are the holy scriptures.

I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

Psalm 145:1 (NKJV)

Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His.”

Daniel 2:20 (NKJV)

Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For He has delivered the life of the poor From the hand of evildoers.

Jeremiah 20:13 (NKJV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one of all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on Earth-in Him.

Ephesians 1:3-10 (NKJV)

He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.

Deuteronomy 10:21 (NKJV)

The LORD I my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

Exodus 15:2 (NKJV)

Back to the song, Verse 2 emphasizes Lord Jesus’ sacrificing Himself to save humanity from sin, paving the way for us to get into God’s kingdom. Jesus paid the price for our salvation. Before His sacrifice, Jesus made clear that people need to be born again. Refer to the holy scripture below.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3 (NKJV)

Verse 3 of King of Kings refers to the resurrection of Jesus and this alone should remind you that idolaters, as well as those who make idols, often highlight Jesus hanging on the cross which easily distract people from realizing the truth that He conquered death and He ascended to Heaven alive. Jesus is really alive!

The resurrection of Jesus as well as his ascension to Heaven are meant to be strongly believed in. There is no exception to this! Refer to the holy scriptures below.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26 (NKJV)

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here! See the place where they laid Him.”

Mark 16:6 (NKJV)

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 (NKJV)

He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”

Luke 24:6-7 (NKJV)

Verse 4 refers the start of the Church of Christ which was recorded in the Book of Acts which I strongly recommend you read from chapter to chapter. When you hear the words ‘the body of Christ’, it is not a reference to Jesus’ flesh but rather to the church which, in the most universal sense, refers to people who believe in the Lord. Of course, I’m not referring to any hierarchy nor an organization pretending to be the chosen authority of the Lord. People who truly have faith in Jesus, opened their hearts to God, allowed the Holy Spirit to occupy their hearts and then live on with the Word of God (the Holy Bible) are the definitive Christians. Definitely no place for idolatry, religion, unbelief and Satan here.

Here are a few more holy scriptures for you relating to Verse 4 of the song. After these, I highly recommend reading Acts 2:1-47 in the Holy Bible to grasp and understand the beginning of the Church of Christ through the coming of the Holy Spirit, the response of the crowd and Peter’s sermon.

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV)

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:18 (NKJV)

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-where Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NKJV)

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)

Ultimately, King of Kings is a very beautiful Christian praise-and-worship song and it is easily worth performing in any church activity (especially Sunday worship services) that needs music. It is the holiness of the Lord that makes the song beautiful and it is the faith in the Lord that makes King of Kings great!

Very truly, the Lord blessed Jason Ingram, Brooke Ligertwood and Scott Ligertwood who wrote King of Kings for the world and for Christians to worship Him with.

In ending this, here is an embedded video showing King of Kings (starting at 15:00 on the timer) by the musicians of Hillsong Church in Australia during its December 29, 2019 Sunday morning service. Thank the Lord and enjoy this! Praise the Father, Praise the Son, Praise the Spirit, three in one!

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. Also my fantasy book The World of Havenor is still available in paperback and e-book format. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK) Ends 2019 with Celebration of Achievements and Service to Local Youth

January 5, 2020January 4, 2020carlocarrasco

Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK) Ends 2019 with Celebration of Achievements and Service to Local Youth

The Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK) posed for me. From left to right were SK Kagawads Jerry Dalmero and Alma Galindo, SK chairperson Mariel Angela Tumang, SK Kagawads Kelly Haboc, Roselyn Regis, Irene Juanico, Stephanie Sebullen and SK treasurer Jefferson Ching.

For the Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK), a lot has been achieved in the year twenty-nineteen (2019) and that alone was worth celebrating during their special event called the Katipunan ng Kabataan: Year End Gathering which was held on the evening of December 28 at the Phase 1 gym along Pilar Banzon street, BF Homes subdivision, Parañaque City, Philippines. It was attended by a total of close to two hundred guests.

Before focusing on the event, let’s take a quick look back at some of the achievements of the BFSK under the leadership of their chairperson Mariel Angela Tumang.

They organized multiple events of Waste for Rice (rice grain released to local residents who turned over to them 1.5-liter bottles filled with silver-coated sachets) throughout the year plus seminars on teenage pregnancy and reproductive health, organized a seminar about suicide, organized Zumba sessions, organized the Mutya ng BF Homes pageant (plus one other) and most notably they had a highly successful Linggo ng Kabataan celebration that attracted MORE than 300 youth participants.

The BFSK also had a well-attended general meeting highlighting what they achieved in the first half of the year. Another major achievement they made was complying with the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) Joint Memorandum Circular Number 1 which includes the opening of a bank account doing the fidelity bonding, the 3-year plan, the annual investment plan and the year’s budget.

For this past year, the SK of Barangay BF Homes became independent from the main barangay in terms of financing and management. This is a milestone highlighting the reformed SK system of the entire nation. The BFSK budget for last year was over P6 million.

The event

Once I arrived at the Phase 1 gym, I saw BFSK chairwoman Mariel Tumang and some of the SK kagawads welcoming the early guests.

Afterwards dinner was served and more local youth arrived to join the celebration. By this time, music was playing and the photo booth was being used. The SK Kagawads became complete with the presence of Alma Galindo (who was dazzling with her white dress), Roselyn Regis, Jerry Dalmero, Kelly Haboc, Irene Juanico, Anne Gabrielle Corre and Stephanie Sebullen plus their treasurer Jefferson Ching.

“We have prepared for you games and the raffle draw of varied prizes,” BFSK Kagawad Alma Galindo announced on stage. “We take this opportunity to thank our key supporter Congresswoman Joy Tambunting.”

BFSK Kagawad Irene Juanico reiterated to the guests that they should just forget about the problems, reflect on what the youth council provided them and have fun to gain optimism for the new year. Other SK kagawads took turns with the microphone.

*BFSK chairwoman Mariel Tumang delivered her remarks to the many guests who attended.*

“We the SK are very grateful to you for attending this special event of ours, the Katipunan ng Kabataan Year-End Gathering,” BFSK chairperson Mariel Tumang said. “Come the year 2020, be assured that the SK will strongly support you and will visit your local communities with projects and activities that you will benefit from.”

After the speeches, music played again, the games finally took place and varied prizes were raffled off. The many guests who attended went home happy and satisfied.

Here are other pictures I took for your viewing pleasure. None of the local community print media publications of BF Homes have these and, at the same time, they are not authorized to use these images (as well as pictures shown earlier).

If you see any of the photos or content of this article used by the BF Homes local community print media publications, please inform me ASAP. Thanks.

*BFSK Kagawad Jerry Dalmero explains something.*

*The BFSK with a group of prize winners. BFSK Anne Corre seated leftmost.*

*Winners of the raffle draw being called.*

For this year, be assured that I’ll keep posting updates about the BFSK.

For more South Metro Manila community news and developments, come back here soon. Also say NO to fake news, NO to irresponsible journalism, NO to misinformation, NO to plagiarists and NO to sinister propaganda when it comes to news and developments.

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To others reading this, if you are dissatisfied with print media and you want your community/organization/business/special event or project to be featured on this website, please contact me locally via mobile number 0905-3350831 or via email at Carlo.Carrasco@gmail.com

Press releases/statements and photo releases are also accepted.

If you need to promote yourselves or your event or special projects, please check out my varied marketing services (including Twitter boosting) right here.

We can negotiate, work together and be achievers together.

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My Observations: The SUM International Virtual Campus Days session of May 30, 2020

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Barangay BF Homes Sangguniang Kabataan (BFSK) Ends 2019 with Celebration of Achievements and Service to Local Youth

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