Pastor Leo Colon's Blog

Pastor Leo Colon’s Blogs

  • Day Five: It’s Coming Sooner than You Think.

    20110106-120344.jpgBeloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. You are on Day number FIVE (5). This is amazing! You’re going into territory you have never seen before. Celebrate this moment, you have, with the help of God, reached a milestone. I want to encourage you today from the Word of God. Let’s finish taking a look at the verse we have been examining.

    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.

    We have learned a few thing from the Apostle Paul:

    1. You understand seasons, “Knowing the Time”
    2. We are to “awake out of sleep” in other words Wake UP

    Today, the word of the LORD to you is, “your deliverance IS coming”! And its coming sooner than you think. Paul in his continuation of the pragmatic portion of this epistle, wants us to be aware of something. Our Salvation is nearer then when we first believed. A few points are inherent to this text. First of all, you did not begin believing God for nothing. You believed that he is God and that every good thing will come from him. Secondly, Salvation is not ambiguous. It is coming. This word is exciting when you understand that the word Salvation in the greek is also the word for Deliverance. Beloved, Your deliverance is a fact. It is a forgone conclusion. God promised it and there is no ambiguity in the matter. Question, do you have a promise from God? I believe that he will do just what he said. What is it you need deliverance from? Well, whatever it is, no this, it will come. Why?

    KJV
    Num. 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

    Here is what excites me. My deliverance, my salvation is going to happen, sooner than I think. As you go through this day, I need you to remind yourself of something, “your deliverance, is going to happen sooner than you think”. I need you to think about it. You believed that God was going to deliver you but when will he do it? You have reasoned in your mind that you would wait on God. You determined to hang in there. Well I have good news for you. The date you thought of for your deliverance……… Think Sooner! This fast is not for naught. God said every moment of this fast means your deliverance is getting closer. Do you believe it? Then stop getting used to your situation! When your change comes, promise me, you will embrace it. Yes that different thing, that different person, that different look. Do not be the reason your blessing has no one to change. Don’t avoid it because you weren’t expecting it. Embrace it. It is coming sooner that you think. Another thing, let your blessing change you. Stop fighting what God is doing in you. God wants to deliver you from the old you. Are you so comfortable with the old you that you reason your blessing away. Do you know, that miracles are missed every day because we try to reason God out of his amazing work. Hang in there. It, Your Blessing, Your Deliverance, Your Salvation is coming sooner than you think.

    Remember; take one day at a time. Drink all the water you can. Pray, and make a prayer list. Pray with understanding and with a purpose. Just do today, do not think of the entire journey. You can do this. Also, 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 Four: Growth

    Beloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Today is day four. You are doing a great job. You are being consistent and are seeking the LORD in your fasting and praying. Well done. Today, my brother, friend and colleague Pastor Maurice Johnson of Bethcar Fellowship in Hampden Connecticut is our guest blogger. He has contributed to our effort before and is a great man of God. Please, help me welcome him and make a point of commenting, let him know this blog has been a blessing to you. Remember; take one day at a time. Drink all the water you can. Pray, and make a prayer list. Pray with understanding and with a purpose. Just do today, do not think of the entire journey. You can do this. Also, start to plan now and make plans to bring someone to church with you. 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

    Maurice Johnson.jpgGrace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What an awesome opportunity to commune with you as we place ourselves on the altar. Thank you to Pastor Leo Colon and the IHP family for allowing me to share this moment with you. What you are doing in this fast is eternal, it may be a struggle but remember the Lord sees you and He responds to those who respond to Him. Keep Going, Hang In There, Heaven Is Our Goal – Pastor Maurice Johnson
    Christian Growth – Fasting

    We are called to maturity as Christians; your growth is a biblical imperative, meaning heaven has determined that your growth is absolutely necessary. Your growth as a Christian is not an easy thing to achieve, it is and can be tedious, yes, the way of the transgressor is hard, but constant persistent godly behavior requires earnest effort. We are not posed to live as Christians and the world still endeavors to call us back to the things that separate us from God. We tend to believe that our maturing in Christ should be and is a natural occurrence or second nature, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just as we are responsible to maintain a life free from sin we are also responsible for fighting to maintain our identity and grow in the Lord. Dr. John MacArthur published an article entitled “What does it mean to “Work Out Your Salvation.”” In the article Dr. MacArthur writes the following:

    “The principle of working out salvation has two aspects. The first pertains to personal conduct, to faithful, obedient daily living. Such obedience obviously involves active commitment and personal effort, for which Scripture is replete with injunctions, both negative and positive. The second aspect of working out one’s salvation is perseverance, of faithful obedience to the end.”

    As Christians we face real obstacles that seek to block or stunt our growth; Martin Luther said that there are three primary obstacles that stand in your life to deter your growth, they are: 1) The World, 2) The Flesh and 3) The Devil. In spite of these obstacles we are required by the Word of God to struggle and to fight the good fight and to take hold of the eternal life to which you were called. The Apostle Paul describes his apprehension of faith in terms of a contest that must be conquered, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Fasting is an intricate facet of our growth, not only should we partake in the corporate fast, but we should involve ourselves personally in fasting and in a real commitment to regularly warring against the desires of our flesh. Fasting can be a struggle and your body may be suffering, but Paul said in Romans 8:18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later – NLT. For your studies while on the fast concerning the Christian struggle, I suggest the following questions and scripture reading from the lesson “Developing Christian Character” by Dr. R C Sproul.

     

    Pastor Maurice Johnson

     

    BIBLE STUDY
    1. What do the following Scripture passages teach us about growth?
    a. Hebrews 6:1–3
    b. Ephesians 4:11–16
    c. Philippians 2:12–13
    d. Philippians 3:12–16

    2. Read the following texts of Scripture. What does each contribute to understanding of “the world”?
    a. Romans 8:18–23
    b. 1 John 2:15–17
    c. James 4:1–6

    3. What do the following texts of Scripture teach us about “the flesh”?
    a. Romans 7:7–8:2
    b. Galatians 5:13–26
    c. James 4:1–6

    4. What do the following texts of Scripture tell us about “the devil”?
    a. Ephesians 6:10–13
    b. James 4:7–10
    c. 1 Peter 5:8–9

    Grace To You.org. December 9, 2014 BQ052112. What Does It Mean to “Work Out Your Salvation”?. Retrieved January 4, 2016, from Grace To You: http://www.gty.org/resources/bible-qna/BQ052112/what-does-it-mean-to-work-out-your-salvation?Term=Work Out Your Salvation
    R C Sproul. (2001) Developing Christian Character, Lake Mary, FL Ligonier Ministries.

    Iam vos teneo (Now you know)
    verum (Truth)

  • Day Three: Wake Up!

    Beloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. You have made it to Day Three. Congratulations! You are doing it. WOW!!! Celebrate this. I know you have had plenty of opportunities to eat. Nobody would know, but you stayed true. Well done. Today, I would like to go further in the text we looked at yesterday. 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.

    Yesterday we looked at the fact that the Apostle Paul told us that we are people that “know the time”. Today, let’s go a bit further. Today the word of the LORD to us that it is high time to “awake out of sleep”. In other words beloved, “WAKE UP”! The Apostle is speaking here to the church at Rome, which tells me it is possible for me to be saved and asleep. I can be saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, fully functional in my church and asleep. Scholars postulate that Paul’s meaning is the same as Jesus’s meaning in Matthew 24:43

    KJV
    Matt. 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

    In the ESV that text is rendered as:
    Matt. 24:43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

    So if we are to understand this text, Paul is saying wake up, and don’t allow the enemy to take anything from you. You know the enemy wants to rob you of what God has given you. The last thing you should do is sleep. Wake up and prevent 2016 from being stolen from you. Do not allow your promise, your purpose to be stolen. You are able to accomplish what God has promised you. You have the authority, the ability and right to prevent your year from being stolen from you. Wake up! Don’t sleep now! Your promise is at hand! Purpose is at hand! Your anointing is at hand! You cannot afford to give up now. I decree, no enemy will stop you, prevent you, cause your direction to shift. You will get ALL that God promised you. I decree that in 2016, You will get everything you have lost. Everything that was stolen from you. It is high time for us to “Awake out of Sleep”!

    This means everything is different now. I am no one’s push over. I will take what belongs to me. How about you? Start your day on purpose. Know what you want and get it. Today, it belongs to you. WAKE UP!

    Remember; take one day at a time. Drink all the water you can. Pray, and make a prayer list. Pray with understanding and with a purpose. Just do today, do not think of the entire journey. You can do this. Also, 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 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.