Pastor Leo Colon's Blog

Category: Devotional

  • Day Two: Knowing the Time.

    20110106-120344.jpgBeloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. You have made it to Day Two. Congratulations! I mean that. It is important that you thank God for the seemingly little things and celebrate your achievements. This is not an easy thing and you are doing it. You are fasting and you are to be commended. BRAVO!!!
    Today, I want to encourage you from the scriptures as we move even deeper forward in our journey. I have been preaching this at our church and I felt so encouraged by it and I pray you will as well. Let’s look at the text.

    KJV
    Rom. 13:11 ¶ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

    If you don’t mind, I would like to look at parts of this text for the next few days. The Apostle Paul, in this part of the epistle is engaged in the pragmatic portion of his writing. I won’t do an exhaustive contextual criticism, but beginning in chapter twelve he begins to encourage us to apply the theological, to our every day life. In this verse, the first clause is informative. He says to us that we are a people that “know the time”. The word he used for time actually means, a fitness, or proportion of time. A limited portion of time, a season. Beloved, I want to encourage you. God has made you a person who understands seasons. You sense in your spirit that there is something different about now. There is an urgency in now. If you are a person that “knows the time” it means you will not operate in this season as if it was a past season. You will not operate in today’s season with yesterday’s anointing.

    Today, God wants you to be sensitive. Operate in your daily bread. As I am writing this, I believe there are many of you who were meant to read this, and God is speaking to you. You knew there was something about this season. You really can’t explain it. You can’t actually prove it, but you know, it’s time. Do you sense it? Even this fast feels different. Can you tell? Beloved, I decree this is a different year for you. This day is different. Take the initiative, today. Start this day “Knowing the Time”.

    Time for what? We will talk about that tomorrow.

    Remember; take one day at a time. Drink all the water you can. Pray, and make a list. Pray with understanding and with a purpose. Just do today, do not think of the entire journey. You can do this. Also, I know your first Sunday of the year was awesome and that your worship was rewarding. With that being said, start to plan now and make plans to bring someone to church with you. If you are not a member of a church currently or are seeking a place God wants you to call home, allow me to invite you to In His Presence Family Worship Center. It’s a good church and a good place to call home. Be my special guest. We would love to meet you. We are at 1673 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY. Our Sunday services start at 8 AM and our midweek prayer and bible study is on Wednesday at 7 PM. Go to our website, http://www.ihpfwc.org. Invite someone to come with you, why? God wants his house filled. He told us that. (Luke 14:23)

    Live on Purpose and not By Mistake,
    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org

  • Day One: A Right Way

    no-tie-head-shot.jpgBeloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Welcome to 2016 and Happy New Year to you all. We, today, January 4th, 2016 are embarking on our 21-day fast. I want to be careful not to portray this as a custom. It is a spiritual exercise, a discipline and an opportunity that we avail ourselves to, every year to seek God first, before we plow into a new year. It is vital, beloved, that we do not rush into 2016 under 2015’s anointing. We need new oil for this New Year. God is faithful to make sure we are informed regarding his will. We need to be equally faithful, (so to speak) to seek His guidance so that we are informed and prepared. So let’s take a look at the word of God for today.

    KJV
    Ezra 8:21 ¶ Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

    This is a text that I personally find informative when seeking God in any new venture. I also find it illuminating, especially when embarking on either a new project, or even just a new phase of a project. Time and time again, I am shown in the scriptures the dangers of moving into a new challenge with an old mindset or old instructions. Also, we must understand, this text in particular is informative for our situation because this is not a people seeking purpose. In this text, Ezra is fully aware of his PURPOSE. What he is asking God for is a “right way”. I am convinced that God has a “right way” for us in 2016. Many of us, know our purpose. What we may need from him this year is a “right way” in achieving our purpose. Be sure that this fast does not go by and you are still in possession of last year’s word or mindset. Make this an opportunity to get from God what you need. He is able and willing to give you your hearts desire. How do I know? Two verses later the scriptures declare:

    NLT:
    Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

    Beloved, God hears you. Seek the “Right Way”.

    Remember; take one day at a time. Drink all the water you can. Pray, and make a list. Pray with understanding and with a purpose. Just do today, do not think of the entire journey. You can do this. Also, I know your first Sunday of the year was awesome and that your worship was rewarding. With that being said, start to plan now and make plans to bring someone to church with you. If you are not a member of a church currently or are seeking a place God wants you to call home, allow me to invite you to In His Presence Family Worship Center. It’s a good church and a good place to call home. Be my special guest. We would love to meet you. We are at 1673 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY. Our Sunday services start at 8 AM and our midweek prayer and bible study is on Wednesday at 7 PM. Go to our website, http://www.ihpfwc.org. Invite someone to come with you, why? God wants his house filled. He told us that. (Luke 14:23)

    Live on Purpose and not By Mistake,
    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org

  • Day Three: Don’t make Fasting Obvious, as Hypocrites Do

    no-tie-head-shot.jpgGrace and Peace be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Beloved, congratulations you are in day number 3. Wow!!!! You are doing what some thought you would never do, and God is keeping you through this whole thing. Praise the LORD for his keeping power. Remember, drink as much water as possible and make a point of making your request known to God. Also do not forget that it is important to get the toxins out of your body. Today I am reposting an earlier blog. Just to keep us focused on what we are doing. I wanted to just share a quick word with you. It is a reminder for us all. Let’s look at the text.

    NLT
    Matt. 6:16 ¶ “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.
    Matt. 6:17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.
    Matt. 6:18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

    Beloved, You are not a hypocrite, you are a believer. Don’t brag, you want your reward from God. Now let’s apply balance to this text. Jesus is not telling us to lie. If someone asks why you are not eating, tell them you are participating in a spiritual exercise. Who knows if God will not use that conversation as an opportunity for evangelism. The issue is for us not to walk around bragging or feigning sickness so that we would get notice for how Holy we are.
    Remember, you are not a hypocrite, you are a believer.

    Live Life on Purpose and Not By Mistake,
    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org

  • Day One: Every One that Asketh, Receiveth.

    casual-smaller.jpgBeloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Today, January 5th, 2014, we embark on our fast. This is a time when we begin our year acknowledging that God is our source and to him do we ascribe credit not only for success in the year to come but thank him for mercy for the year we have just come through. Today we begin to seek direction, ask our questions and try to understand his will for us for this year. Take the time to thank God. Honestly, we have a lot to thank God for. Be honest, you have some achievements that can only be God and he deserves your praise. LORD, Thank You! Now for a strategy for this fast and this year. Jesus gives us a paradigm that is tested, tried and true. Let’s look at the scriptures.

    Matt. 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
    Matt. 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

    Christ tells us to ask, then tells us why we should. Simple. During this fast, we should ask him for what he wants from us but also what we are praying for. Jesus tells us to ask. When we ask we should expect the next clause to be as true as the instruction. If we Ask, then we should expect, “and it shall be given you”. That alone should dictate our actions and expectation. But I want to leave you with this reassuring word. Jesus gives us something in this passage. He gives us the assurance that this has work before. But not only has it worked before, but it has worked CATEGORICALLY! He says in verse 8: For EVERY ONE that asketh receiveth. It is unwise, not logical and unreasonable to assume that all of Holy Writ is true except when it comes to you and this passage. Here is what you should begin to believe. I will receive what I ask God for. Undoubtedly, there are levels we have not dealt with, such as, every things we do as believers should be commensurate with our values, our faith. So no Christian should be asking God for something un-Christian like. We ought not to ask for things God says are not right, we should be as Paul says “imitators of God”. With that said, you have some needs you would like to deal with. Here is your word for the day. Ask God, because every one that asketh, receiveth.

    What would you ask for, if you knew that what you asked for, you would receive?

    Remember, take one day at a time. Drink all the water you can. Pray, and make a list. Pray with understanding and with a purpose. Just do today, do not think of the entire journey. You can do this. Also, I know your first Sunday of the year was awesome and that your worship was rewarding. With that being said, start to plan now and make plans to bring someone to church with you. God wants his house filled. He told us that. (Luke 14:23)

    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    www.ihpfwc.org

  • Ferguson: We Need to Pay Attention

    no-tie-head-shot.jpgGrace and peace be unto you. Today, I wanted to speak to you for a moment concerning the Mike Brown incident in Ferguson Missouri and what we should glean from this moment. A few days have passed since the announcement that no charges would be filed by the Ferguson County district attorney as a result of the determinations made by the grand jury. Nothing about the incident can be applauded by any righteous person. Although, there are some obvious observations that have been made that are important and should be made.

    Firstly, Mike Brown may have been a felon by any tangential observer. He had just committed what is called a strong arm robbery (maybe). I say that because the video is not, as of yet, conclusive. Which means, he should be in jail and not dead. Secondly, by the admission of the police department, the robbery was not the reason for the stop. Thirdly and maybe most significantly, the reason for the uproar is because there is no equal treatment here. Just this year, you had a litany of examples where police have waited out felons with guns, so not to hurt these white men (with Guns), yet Mike Brown is gunned down in broad day light, with no gun. There is a different metric, seemingly that police use when the suspect is black. We understand this.

    Beloved, I have a problem and I must admit, we are to blame for some of this. I contend that we are not paying attention. When you live in a town, such as Ferguson, with 67% African American, 29.3% White, .5% Asian, .4% Native American and .4% other races, (Wikipedia, 2010 Census), there should not be an almost exclusively white city government, a nearly exclusively white police department or a white District Attorney.

    Is it possible to have white qualified officers and people in that city government? Of course, and there should be. My contention is, we ought not be so disengaged that we allow this to be the way our cities are run. What we need to do is form and follow a plan that would ensure that this never happen again. By this I do not mean, that we never have another white police officer kill another unarmed black suspect, that would be wonderful, but what I do mean is that we should never see it done and have city government give its approbation for this. We should never have a district attorney do his level best to avoid an indictment as oppose to letting the chips fall where they may. We need to pay attention to our cities and care who we elect. We need to make a big deal about voting in every election.

    Another thing, we need for those brothers and sisters in Ferguson to join the police academy. We are able to police our own community and do it well. We need those brothers and sisters who are fed up with the treatment of African Americans in that county to do what is neccesary. Sometimes, we behave as if it is way more important to criticized, and loot, than to solve. We are not paying attention. If we pay attention, we will elect responsible people to city goverment, have way more people of good conscious in our police force and make a point of knowing that the people we elect are qualified to hold office. Pay Attention!

    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org

  • Don’t Operate In Fear

    20110106-120344.jpgThis blog is really one of the takeaways from the message at In His Presence Family Worship Center on Sunday. Let’s consider the text,  just for a few moments:

    Matt. 14:26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear.

    One of the issues we found in our study of this text is that when Jesus walked on water toward these disciples, they were in the midst of a terrible ordeal, and their fear was actually legitimate. Remember, at least five of these original twelve disciples were fishermen. Meaning these were professionals with a boat, yet the simple instruction, “go to the other side of the lake” was a major problem. Now I did go into detail in the message and the podcast is posted (www.ihpfwc.org),  so I won’t rehearse it here, but the real issue is that these men were frightened. They were scared for their lives, and it is in this construct that they saw Jesus.

    What have we seen through fear, that was meant to deliver us, and caused us to run away from it. We often will fear, the very thing that can help us get where we’re going. Anytime we try to receive instruction from anyone, including God, we tend to get the message wrong because we look at it, hear it, from the position of fear. What should help us, we flee from because we operate in fear. Now, I do not want to leave any of you with the impression that we will never have reason to fear anything. Life is real and so are many of the problems, but don’t operate in fear. Fear should be a momentary emotion that you never make a decision from. Never commit to anything, while operating in fear. If you are in fear, stop, then listen. We should not even listen to our loved ones in fear. Jesus who is the very fabric of deliverance looked like a ghost, because they operated in fear. Before, Jesus gave them hope, he gave them instruction and the instruction was, “fear not”.

    What could you do this week, if fear was not the focal point of your actions. What promotion could be yours, if you did not fear? What milestone could you achieve if you did not fear?
    Determine, I will not operate in fear! Watch this week change for the better because you did not operate in fear. Take on the challenge of this week in boldness.

    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org

  • Love God with Sincerity.

    no-tie-head-shot.jpgA while ago, in one of my devotions, I came across a truth that inspired me. The scripture reference is Eph 6:24. 

Eph. 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. 

Grace be with all them that love our LORD Jesus Christ in sincerity.

    The word sincere was the focus of the authors of my devotions attention. He wrote this:

    “A Roman artist named Titus was commissioned to carve a statue of the emperor. He did a good job, and at the unveiling everyone was amazed at the striking resemblance of the statue to the living emperor. Every feature was carved to perfection.
    All went well as the statue was displayed in public until the summer sun began to bear down. Then suddenly the nose fell off. When the statue was inspected it was discovered that although the rest of it was carved out of marble, the nose was made of wax.
    So Titus was banished from Rome in disgrace, and a law was passed decreeing that from then on all statues of the emperor were to be made without wax.
    The Latin words for “without wax” are sine cera. From those words we have derived the English word sincere.”

    ”

Excerpt From: William L. Banks. “Daily Manna.” CLC Publications. iBooks. 
This material may be protected by copyright.

    A few observations:

    The Apostle Paul is pronouncing Grace, (may God give you all the things you don’t deserve) but only to those who love Jesus in sincerity. Meaning you love Christ without wax. What that means is that my love for Christ needs to be that which can withstand heat.  The heat of everyday life. The heat of depression, the heat of peer pressure, the heat of discouragement.  I cannot be the kind of believer that only loves God when the weather is such that comfort is the assumed, but my love for God needs to go through some things and discover that my love is made from marble. There is no wax there. 

I don’t want my love to fall off when trials come, when it gets hot, when trouble comes. I want to my love to withstand extremes. When its hot, it’s standing, when its cold it’s standing. If you don’t like it, it’s standing. My love for Christ needs to be one that is sincere. “Sine Cera”with out wax. How is your love for Christ?

     

    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org.

     

     

    If this blog is a blessing to you, consider partnering with us and supporting us. Click here to sow a seed into good ground.

  • Oil for the Light

    no-tie-head-shot.jpgToday’s devotional, my Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotional, was so powerful I just had to just copy and paste in it’s entirety. I pray that you are blessed by this. I promise you, I will be preaching one day soon, but sometimes, some things don’t need commentary. I was blessed. I hope you will be to.

    August 28 (Morning)

    “Oil for the light.” —Exodus 25:6

    My soul, how much thou needest this, for thy lamp will not long continue to burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and become an offence if light be gone, and gone it will be if oil be absent. Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy human nature, and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, “My lamp is gone out.” Even the consecrated lamps could not give light without oil; though they shone in the tabernacle they needed to be fed, though no rough winds blew upon them they required to be trimmed, and thy need is equally as great.  Under the most happy circumstances thou canst not give light for another hour unless fresh oil of grace be given thee.
    It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord’s service; neither the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was selected, and that the best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the olive-press of Gethsemane, and draws his supplies from Him who was crushed therein. The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour’s golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil. Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love, these are all beams of the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth unless in private we receive oil from God the Holy Ghost.

    C. H. Spurgeon.

    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    http://www.ihpfwc.org.

  • What would your last words be?

    What would your last words be?

    no-tie-head-shot.jpg2 Samuel 23 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
    23 Now these be the last words of David.

    David the son of Jesse said,
    and the man who was raised up on high,
    the anointed of the God of Jacob,
    and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
    2 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
    and his word was in my tongue.
    3 The God of Israel said,
    the Rock of Israel spake to me,
    He that ruleth over men must be just,
    ruling in the fear of God.
    4 And he shall be as the light of the morning,
    when the sun riseth,
    even a morning without clouds;
    as the tender grass springing out of the earth
    by clear shining after rain.

    These were the last words of a King. My devotion today reminded me that David’s life as recorded in Holy Writ, was one of controversy and peppered with as many lows as high points. One might say he has lived a hard life, yet his triumph comes from the fact that his last words were to speak well of God. It is amazing to me, how many opportunities life gives us to be cynical, yet this King who has seen war and peace, life and death, love and betrayal can still speak of God in the superlative.

     

    Have I made enough of an effort to remain positive? About God, Life, family, whatever the case. Have I made a point of seeing God through every situation so much so that my speech reflects the faithfulness and magnificence of God? Yes I have seen disappointment, but God is still good. Yes I have blown it sometimes but God is merciful. I have even pondered the meaning of life, what does it all mean, but Our God is a Wonder. Christ is amazing in his ability to rescue me from me. Honestly, I can’t tell how many times I thought I was done for, and if I was, I would have to admit that it was my own stupidity, my own doing.

    Eph 2:4

    But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.

     

    I want my last words to be a Hymn of Praise to our God. I want the last I say to be our God is Awesome and we could never deserve such a love.

    Thank you Jesus for everything you have done, known and unknown. I will always be indebted to you for the love you have shown.

     

     

    Your Servant, Your son.

    Leo

  • RESPONSE TO THE JORDAN DAVIS VERDICT

    clergy-smaller.jpgGrace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Today’s blog represents a need to respond to recent events concerning the Jordan Davis Verdict. Our Bishop, H. Curtis Douglas has written a response to this verdict and I felt duty bound to disseminate it. While I agree with every painful word, it is not shared as a benchmark for all thought on the matter but as a perspective that needs to be posited. Please read it and consider where we stand in our society.

    Live Life on Purpose and not By Mistake,
    Yours Because I am His,
    Leo Colon
    pastor@ihpfwc.org
    www.ihpfwc.org

    BISHOP H. CURTIS DOUGLAS

    RESPONSE TO THE JORDAN DAVIS VERDICT

    IMG_0655This verdict, as the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, clearly states for all the world to see that in these United States of America, under the law, the life of a black person, especially a black man, has less value than that of a white person.
    That the inferred threat of blackness justifies the overt violence of whiteness
that just because a white person thinks a black person might do something, that white person has the right to use whatever force they deem necessary against that black person, and be exonerated by the legal system for that act.

It is interesting to note that this standard is only applied when the victim is black 
and the perpetrator is white.

In our legal system, if one person feels that someone means them no good, they cannot take the law into their own hands.  The law is clear that you cannot act violently towards someone simply because you think or feel that they are going to harm you.

The most the law will do for you is give you an “order of protection” unless that is, you are white and your victim is black. In that case, you can use your fear of an anticipated act as justification of your violent act even if said act leads to the death of someone who, in the eyes of the law, has done you no wrong or harm.

These verdicts remind us that, even in 2014, under the law of this nation, the standard that is applied to people of color, especially Blacks and Latinos, is not the same as that applied to whites.

From Trayvon Martin to Jordan Davis to Renisha McBride; the black young woman who was killed with a shotgun blast to her face, at point blank range, because she rang the doorbell of a white person’s house when her car broke down, looking for help.

It’s the same rationale. He too claimed that he feared that she was coming to rob his house and that he was justified to shoot her in the face.

This verdict, along with many others that can be cited, shows that something can be legal yet not moral.

It is wrong that an unarmed 18 year old black young man can be shot and killed by an armed white man and him not be found guilty of murder.

The message that this verdict, once again sends to America is that it is reasonable for a white person:

    • to assume that a young black man is a criminal
    • to suspect that a young black man is up to no good
    • to shoot at and kill a young black man with the confidence and tacit assurance that the law will back them up.

    With all the advances that we as a people have made in the 150 years since the emancipation proclamation, this mountain still remains to be climbed; this enemy still has to be vanquished. And make no mistake, it will be. 

How, you ask?

    • -the same way our parents’ and grandparents’ generation overcame, slavery and Jim Crow, and blatant racial segregation;
    • -the same way our people have overcome whippings, brandings, and lynching’s;
    • -the same way we have overcome the malevolent attacks on our psyche and human dignity when they belittled us and minimized us, and attempted to degrade us; calling us boy, and coon, and sambo, and nigger.

    How, you ask? I’ll tell you how: through the prayers of the saints, through the spilled blood of our children, through our indomitable spirit that compels us to fight for the right in the face of overwhelming odds.

    In the face of laws that are enacted to frustrate us, we will overcome. In the face of injustice that exists to keep us in our place, we will overcome.

In the face of racists attitudes designed to deter us and crush our resolve, we will overcome.

    + H. Curtis Douglas