Scripture – Page 8 – Pastor Leo Colon's Blog

Day Two- Renewing my Mind

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Again, thank you for visiting our blog site. I would like to take this time to invite you to our church, In His Presence Family Worship Center. It is a friendly church where the praise and worship is sweet and the word of God is preached with power and without compromise. Join us at four (4) PM at 154 Lexington Ave @ 30th Street. Our midweek bible study services are at Seven (7) PM. We would be honored to have you as our special guest. Make plans now to come and prepare to receive from God. You will not be sorry.

This is day number two of our fast. Congratulations, this is a cause to celebrate. You have made it to day number two (2).

The Apostle Pau; said, “Be transform by the renewing of your mind”. So we need to renew your mind in such a way that it does not return to what it was.

“We are what we repeatedly do,” Aristotle proclaimed. If this is true, we cannot renew our mind by doing the same thing or feeding it the same thing. So you say, Pastor I read scripture all the time, but do we apply it? Do we repeatedly read then apply? We need to change our habits. It is possible even for us.

Going forward, this year, what can we do to renew our mind. What changes can we put into place that can help us every day? I know for me, it will mean feeding my brain by reading more. When I feed myself, it is not as easy to control me and/or my situation. If I am busy feeding my mind, renewing my mind, then situations, people and circumstances cannot control me. Allowing yourself to be lazy in this area can lead to control by another.

Carter G Woodson wrote in the miseducation of the Negro’

“If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”

― Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

Take control of what you think by renewing your mind. You feed it the things God says will be helpful to you. Determine to read (feed your mind) books. Entire books in the scripture that will change your thinking. This does not happen over night. You have to take steps that will cause new habits. You will get there. I heard a Pastor say, “change is emotional, Transformation is a process”.

In tomorrow’s blogs we will look for things we can do to start new habits that can be life changing. Also, I will be developing a reading list that I will offer my church and will share with you all.

Remember, drink as much water as you can, and make a point of cleaning toxins out of you body during this process. You are doing well.

Live Life on Purpose and not By Mistake,

Yours Because I am His,

Leo Colon

pastor@ihpfwc.org

www.ihpfwc.org

January 7, 2014

Day One- We want to Please God

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@ihpfwc.org

www.ihpfwc.org

January 6, 2014

And so it begins.

Beloved, Grace and Peace be multiplied to you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Happy New Year and welcome to 2014. I trust you have enjoyed bringing in the New Year and are ready to tackle the challenges of this year. This year at In His Presence Family Worship Center (IHP), 2014 is the year of Transformation (Romans 12:2). We as a people and as a church will transform into what God has called us to be. Let me invite you to come to IHP on Sunday, January 5th at 4PM and start the New Year with the goal of becoming what God called us to be. Does this mean that we have been wasting time as Christians until now? No, what it does mean is that as Christians we are constantly striving to become. We strive to become new creatures, (2 Cor 5:17), become “a living sacrifice”, (Rom 12:2) to become “pleasing to God”, (Rom 12:1, HCSB) as we are called to do.

On Monday January 6th, we will embark on our Twenty-One (21) Day Fast. This fast will not be a diet. This will not only mean we will deny ourselves food, but also we will actively seek God, and seek a better way to transform 2014 into a year of Godly success. Join us this year. I will be blogging every day with the exception of Sunday, to be an encouragement to you as you embark on this journey with us. As usual, my wife, Pastor Dorothy, and my friends Pastors Paul Dean, and Maurice Johnson will be guest bloggers this year.

Remember, the book of Romans was written to believers, just like you, so transforming your life is not advise for beginners, but a mandate for every believer. Make this year different, come and join us, not only for our Twenty-One Day Fast, but also for the year as we Transform our lives. You will be glad you did.

Live Life on Purpose and not By Mistake,

Yours Because I am His,

Leo Colon

pastor@ihpfwc.org

www.ihpfwc.org

January 4, 2014

Get Understanding. Get Clarity.

Beloved, Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from the LORD Jesus Christ. Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog site.

Today I would like to revisit the blog posted a while ago. Proverbs 18 is a timely and relevant passage. Beloved, God demands that we be wise. He takes the time in the Old and New Testaments to encourage; some would say admonishes us to be wise. He also discourages foolishness. Let’s take a simple look at part of the text:

NRSV

Prov. 18:1 The one who lives alone is self-indulgent, showing contempt for all who have sound judgment.

Prov. 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.

A person, who does not have to deal with people, may not be used to compromise. This text suggests that such a person is prone to self-indulgence. One of the meanings of indulgence is “to become involve with”. So the idea of self-indulgence suggests that the person who lives by themselves can become to involve with him or herself. Now we should not read into this text that paying attention to your self is in and of itself wrong. When we center right and wrong around the idea ‘what do I want,’ and refuse to consider the impact of our actions on others then our separation from others has taking its toll. The reason an idea sounds good is because we want to do a thing. When you live alone, there is no one externally available to offer an opposing idea. When this becomes the norm, sound judgment is just negativity. Sound judgment would offer a reason that does not begin and end under the rubric: what do I want, and because of that, I have a good reason to dismiss it. Now beloved, this is not scripture that speaks against anyone living alone. This text should not lead us to start a doctrine that says living alone is a sin. It should encourage us to always seek sound judgment, and not only your own counsel.

Prov. 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.

We should constantly seek understanding. Get clarity in every part of your day. Know why you are doing a thing, and assess the virtue of a thing. What this journey into pragmatism has taught me is that I can use this approach in every part of my life. So many times, especially lately, since I am making a renewed effort to seek wisdom, I look back at some setbacks, both in my recent and distance past, and found that taking the time understand an issue better could have helped me avoid some mistakes. Beloved, mistakes cost. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but you are no fool. Get clarity; plan your day, live on purpose. Suppose you took the time to plan your day. Set a goal. What would be a wise thing to accomplish? Set objectives that will help you achieve your goals. Because you set a goal, now you can determine whether today was a successful day. What does today mean to you? How can wisdom help make today a better today? Try it; write down what needs to get done. I need to schedule 5 meetings today. Write for my book today. I need to workout today. Then go after it. Do it on purpose and not by mistake.

Yours Because I am His,

Leo Colon

www.ihpfwc.org

leocolon.wordpress.com