Category: Spiritual, Inspirational

 

“…I came not to bring peace, but a sword…Your enemies will be right in your own household!” Matthew 10:34, 36 NLT

Wow! This is really shocking coming from the mouth of the Prince of peace! I heard someone saying that ignorance kills and I believe it. Isaiah 40:8, declares that the Word of our God stands forever and it has been proven. The Word of God is a treasure and is hidden safely so that only those who dig diligently find it.

The New Testament was written in the Greek language, which is totally different than ours. Example, Greek has six different words to express love and we just have one, so this explains some of our difficulties in understanding. I imagine the ancient Greek would have been appalled by our unrefined in using a single word both to love a person and to love a meal. So with this said, I propose to explain what’s going on in this passage.

The Lord is preparing His disciples, equipping them with His prophetic Word for them to be strong enough to withstand what was ahead of them. Genesis 12 tells the story of Abram’s call to leave all he knew to come to an unknown place. God was interested in preparing a place of salvation for humanity. The man had become depraved and was in complete enmity with God. Through the seed of Abraham, God will send his Son to give his life as a ransom for humanity that has been in Satan’s possession. And Galatians 4:4, tells us:
“But when the fullness of time came, God send forth His Son, born from a woman, born under the law,”

The Lord is training His disciples that will stay without His physical leadership, after He is taken back to heaven. He is given them all the details of things to come and they must be strong not to deny God. He places a strong emphasis on His teaching so that they keep it in their spirit. The disciples are as sheep among wolves and He wanted them to be secured and strong. Israel was desperate for a King to deliver them from Rome. They expected a King to come to fight for them. The Lord came to fight, He said it clear:

“I came not to bring peace, but a sword…”

He came to defeat the enemy, the real enemy, Satan.  Light and darkness entered mortal combat.

” In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5).

The Lord came to undo the works of the devil and that revolutionized the kingdom of darkness by urging strife within the same family. This is an eternal business affair. This is like when a parent is facing with the tragic situation of his child destroying his life with drugs. Would that father be okay with the drugs for tranquility’ sake. What about if you see your son or your father sexually abusing a child, wouldn’t that turn you against him? When the sin in us is confronted with the Light of Christ, is immediately revolted.

Thus the Lord is summarizing His teaching with this, “For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,…” (Matthew 10:35).

Jesus is not commanding people to kill people, He is talking about sin.  Sin separates us from God and from other people. Sin sends people to hell which is eternal separation from God. Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life for us. He died our own death, so that we can live His life today.

NO! Jesus is not anti-family! Jesus is pro-family! He loves family! Through His blood He made us all family. Because of His death, we have been adopted by God.
“For you have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear. But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans8:15).

Proverbs 8:31, says that wisdom who is Jesus , “…My delights were with the sons of men.”

The Lord finished His discourse, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39).

This is what the Lord taught us in Luke 10:27, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”

No the Lord Jesus is NOT Anti-family!

The story behind this prayer:

July 14, 2018, on my way to our prayer meeting, long before dawn and while driving,  I was doing my favorite thing, talking to my Lord!

And as I started to bring my brother before the throne of mercy, my whole journey appeared before me. And as I started to see all the frighten valleys I was forced to go through, and I started to declare what the Lord was for me in each valley!

“You are my Consolation in the valley of affliction,
My Gladness in my happiness,
My Peace in the turmoil,
The Well-Being in pain,
The Softness in rudeness,
My Light in darkness,
My Love in hatred,
My Solace in restlessness,
My Rest in agitation,
My constant Company in loneliness,
My Acceptance in rejection,
My Strength in weakness,
My Father in the orphanage,
My Husband in repudiation,
My Refuge in abandonment,
My Security in uncertainty,
My Strong Confidence in death,
The Water that quenches my thirst,
You are the One who lifts up my head,
You are my Hope of glory!
You are my King, Savior, Lord and God!
You are my Everything!!”

This time the prayer was not for me, but for you my brother. I know the Lord wants to be for you,  all He was and is for me, also. I don’t want to smother you with text or calls, but whenever you need an ear, here you have two. You can get in touch with me whichever way you are pleased with.  I’m praying for you, my brother. I love you. May God bless you with His shalom peace!

“In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and it will be a refuge for his children.”    Proverbs‬ ‭14:26‬ .
‭‭
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10.

My story is a garden of exotic thoughts.

-Diana Quintero

The story behind this title. I met a person that became very dear to me.  One day we paused our conversation and he excused himself to call me back a little bit later. The whole afternoon was gone and at about 24 hours  later, he responded. But, while I was waiting many thoughts roamed my mind, “what about if anything bad  happened to him?  Or ” Was it my last conversation not proper? Etc. Many things came to my mind, then I just said to myself: “De espanto no muero!” which in English means  “I am cured of fright!”

And later I found out that nothing serious happened, just that something went wrong with the connection. I have seen it all, from death to divorce, which for me that covers the whole  spectrum’s devastation. And I’ve been there, but God has brought me out with a stunning triumph! In the Sacred Scriptures, in the Book of Genesis chapter 37, we find the amazing, but  intriguing story of Joseph. He was a dreamer. It’s dangerous to tell your dreams to people who don’t dream. His brothers hated him because he was his dad’s favorite. One day they took his special gown off and sold him as a slave. Now the favorite son wound up in the house of a high officer of Pharaoh.  He has been mistreated, naked, sold, accused of immoral act, not believed by his boss and thrown in jail. He is innocent of all charges, but apparently he has no voice, no one to defend him. He seems to be forgotten by all including God. All the hell Joseph went through was to get his dreams realized. God gives us a dream and we rejoice and share it, but God does not show us the process. From the onset of the dream to the fulfillment of, there is a long stretch. Betrayal, abandonment, losing it all, being total alone in an unknown country, not knowing the language or culture, it was a helpless situation to the natural eyes. But that was the process to graduate him as the second man in power of the greatest empire of the time.

The process of Joseph started by taking his gown off and fabricating a big lie about his presume beast’s attack that devoured him. This is my story, it’s similar to Joseph’s.  Joseph’s began with dreams and God also gave me a dream in August 11, 1982. That prophetic dream was giving me the details of my firstborn son’s death. He showed me his death, but covered my understanding. That dream became a reality on July 24, 1991. His death was devastating to me. My soul was broken beyond repair, my life changed to a before and an after. I felt betrayed, abandoned, I felt there was not a creature worst than I in the whole  planet.  Losing my child made me feel  I should be the curse of cursing. To make the long story short, God restored my soul, as the Creator that He is. The Lord replaced my son with the most gorgeous grandchild and God gave me a new song! A new hope, a new life! The healing process was completed in 1995, five years later. In another opportunity I’ll write my grieving/ healing process.

Seventeen years later, just like Joseph’s age, another tsunami storm type assaulted me! Celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary, all looked ready to start to enjoy the results of all those years of hard work. A beautiful marriage, amazing children and grandchildren and a beautiful congregation. Both of us  were 60 years old, financially comfortable and ready for a restful life. Suddenly appeared a pituitary tumor in my husband, and surgery was soon needed and the wonderful husband, loving father and venerable man of God changed overnight. Me, as well as the children, became outsiders for him. He acted out of his character. In the story of Joseph, the brothers that hated him were the sons of concubines, not of Leah’s. They were the illegitimate children of Leah’s and Rachael’s maidservants. Reuben and Judah were sons of the legitimate wife, not of a simple mistress and they defended Joseph.

In our case, the children of maidservants, were some that in 40 years of our marriage we have not been related to; all of the sudden gathered together and formed a big alliance against God.  About Joseph’s   ” They said to one another, “Here comes this master of dreams! Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!”’ Genesis 37:19-20.

These so called my husband’s relatives acted like the hateful Joseph’s illegitimate brothers forming a strong support group to destroy the ministry of this man of God. And they did.

How to handle this betrayal, this incredible blow? How you respond to people you have loved and served for many years and now in your anguish they desert you? Acts 20:24 is the Motto of my life:

“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

And I have lived it. My life after my son’s death is victorious, I am not afraid of death or anything because I have the assurance of God’s presence within me. After my son’s death, God gave me a new soul as strong as love. There is nothing stronger than love. I love and pray for the people that destroyed my husband. I know they will face the Lord one day and I tremble at that thought. How I respond to this poor people that almost destroyed me? I respond with the compassion of Christ, my Lord. I pity them and pray for them to  repent, so that all the evil they did to us they can reverse to do good now.

Every time I pray and love them, I get younger and healthier. The inner beauty of the love of the Lord permeates through me and people finds me pretty. No grudge, no resentment, but love God and love people, are the keys for being healthy, joyful and stunning beautiful! When you have my Acts 20:24 Motto, there are no weapons against you, you are above all! I am full of JOY!    “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

The Whole Spectrum of Fright

It’s under my feet. De espanto no muero= I am cured of fright! Praise God!