Grace and Peace be unto you, from God our Father, and from the LORD Jesus Christ. Happy New Year to you all. I am so glad to be writing again. This is a year that I am expecting to see changes and miracles. Our Bishop (Bishop H. Curtis Douglas) has declared this the year of “Jubilee for Me”. This was the declaration of our Bishop for Dabar Bethlehem Cathedral and for the churches under his care. So I personally receive that word and I would encourage you to receive it in Jesus’ name.
Rom. 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom. 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Beloved, This year as a church we will be engaged in a journey to Transform ourselves by renewing our minds. Now lets get rid of some wrong notions from the out set. Does the fact that we are renewing our minds mean that our christian walk so far has been wrong, not right and a waste of my time? Absolutely not. That would be like saying, the fact that I want to become a better person means, all this time I have not been a good person. That’s not a fair assessment of what we want to do. It is a journey to grow in the LORD and a hope to be and obtain better results from our walk with God. As a matter of fact, we can look to the scriptures to see that point. The book of Romans, (as well as the other New Testament books) was written to believers, not non-believer. So none of this is saying that you are not a believer, but there is always room to learn more from God.
On this fast we want to seek God, how? By trying to live out the later clause of this first verse. In the King James Version it says that we should:
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
In the Holman Christian Study Bible, it is rendered this way:
I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.
Today, let our focus be this, We want to Please God. Let that be, today, the focus in everything we do. As we embark on our fast this year we want to Please God. Even at work, in our family, with our wives or husbands, we do not want to do what comes naturally. Check every reaction. Check every thought. Will God be pleased at how I am doing what I am doing. That is what we want. The First step to Transformation, is knowing who we are and whose opinion matters.
Pray for each other and believe that God will do just what he said. There is a plan for today. Here is the plan, just do today. The best way to do a fast is to do it one day at a time. Don’t worry about the rest of the days and how you are going to make it. Just do today. Drink all the water you can drink. At the very least you should be drinking ten (10) glasses of water. Also do one bowl of Soup. Pray from your prayer lists and pray for one another.
Live Life on Purpose and not By Mistake,
Yours Because I am His,
Leo Colon
Pastor Leo Colon's Blog 