Burger King Prayer

Decisions... Decisions… Some of them are extremely hard to select. We make decisions in our every day life. Many of them are very simple –what shoes should I wear today, what route will I take to work, and/or what food shall I eat for breakfast. On the other hand, there are some decisions that we must study carefully for it’ll affect the rest of our lives. In such cases, we often come before God for an answer and pray a Burger King prayer –Cause we want things done our way. Or perhaps some of our prayers might parallel a Starbucks drive-thru order: “Tall, skinny, sugar-free, decaf, soy vanilla latte, extra hot, whip cream, double sleeve, and no cup please.” Furthermore, it seems that very often we do not hear a reply from Him; just His silence.

THERE ARE SOME MATTERS YOU JUST DON’T PRAY ABOUT

“So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven” (Jeremiah 7:16).

Many objects, situations, and even relationships in our lives could become our idols. We hold unto them like smoke penetrates our clothing, and emotional dependency develops stronger and stronger. Are you praying to God to bless yours? The path you are taking, is it the will of God?

GOD SPEAKS ALL THE TIME

“But I gave them this command: Listen to me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you” (7:23).

The verb “to listen” in this verse is “Shama” in Hebrew. And this verb not only means “to listen” but also “to obey.” The Lord, through Scriptures, has already established His laws, precepts, and commandments. In other words, many answers to our prayers can be found through meditation and study of the Bible. “Day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. ²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention” (7:25).

 

THEM HEARTBEATS WILL LEAD YOU ASTRAY

Our mind and heart are in a constant battle in almost every life-changing decision that we must make. That is why scripture encourages us to make God the platform of our decisions instead of our hearts, because “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (17:9). God says it in His own way, “But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward” (7:24).

Therefore, may your prayers give forth a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, may your ears lean towards Him and enjoy the utterances of His heart, and may your heart be cleansed so he can renew a steadfast spirit within you.  And above all, may He guide you and bless you in every life-changing decision that you must make today.

Blessings! 

When in doubt… Remember that Father knows best

A few years ago, before going to college and while still in high school, I became an expert at organizing the shelves and maintaining them well stocked at the grocery store I used to work at. But eventually I left that job and managed a shipping company for a couple of years. There I learned how to run a business, and had the opportunity to master the job for I would work 14-16 hours a day. In time, I was hired by a finance company. There I learned how to read a credit report, evaluate customers’ applications for loans, and conclude on a decision whether they were going to pay back the money or not –I was also a good collector. At any rate, I could go on and on about the lessons and how much I’ve learned about life, but the point is that I’ve realized that the more I learn, specially in college, the more I realize how ignorant I am. There will never be a point in our lives where we’ll stop learning.

Yet, I know someone who knew and is intimately acquainted, even before our own emotions, principles, gender, culture, language, mindset, and lifestyle was established, with every single inward part of us –God. Scriptures declare, “before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” (Jeremiah 1:5). Amen! Because as sad as it sounds, we don’t even know our own persona. There are hundreds of books out there in which they talk about “finding your own self.” And for all that, it seems that our hearts deceive us each and every time (Jeremiah 17:9).

In the course of our lives there are many decisions we must take that will positively or negatively alter our very own future. Who will be my husband or wife? Should I move to a new town or country? What career should I study? And many more related questions constantly come to mind. Our heart battles with our mind, and our mind battles with certain voices, and we cannot discern which one is from God. Hard times huh? Yes. I know. However, let’s remember that He knows us better than we know ourselves. Yes, Father knows best.

Spirit of prophecy teaches us that our Bible-reading discipline will gift us the ability to discern His voice. By consequence, this same habit will keep our knees bolted to the floor in constant prayer that will slowly dissipate the adversary’s voice, and our King’s utterances will each and every time become clearer to understand.

Letting go and letting God is not an easy task for any of us since we constantly want to be in control of our lives. In spite of that, let’s be reminded that the Creator of these minds and bodies are KNOWN before the creation of this world. He knows what’s best for us, and he continues to work hard to teach us so.

Therefore, may you make the decision today to adopt a Bible-reading discipline, become a man/woman of prayer, and receive the blessing of the discernment of His voice.

Remember, Father knows best.

Confessions of a Theo Major: An Unforgettable Date

 Many moons have shone since the last time I went out on a date, and I must confess –I have a soft spot when it comes to such episodes. I take pleasure in every single detail throughout the process: The first look, smiles, continual encounters, preparations, quality time, love letters, and love notes. Further down the road it is time to ask for the digits. “Guess what? I was reading this morning in the book of Numbers, and then I realized that I don’t have yours!” Once again she gifts you with that unique smile of hers.

The exhilaration of the preparation

            Usually, one makes preparations towards spending special time with that unique person. For men: Wash the car, shine tires and rims, vacuum and perfume the interior, choose clothes ahead of time, call beforehand to make a reservation, buy roses, wait an hour and half for her to get ready, etc. For women: Debate with sister about what to wear, debate with mother about what to wear, and debate with friends about what to wear. The fact is that preparation is part of the exhilaration.

The quality time

            In spite of that, my date last night did not include any preparation. It was a long week. Throughout the day I spent time working on school assignments until I realized the sun had set, the holy day of the Lord was present, and I was late for my special date with God. I rushed to the house, took a shower, got dressed, ate an avocado sandwich, and went to church. There, with some sort of guilt and surrounded by 150+ students, I decided to sit alone. I found a spot where there was no body in the entire row, kneeled down, and prayed that it would be just the two of us for the rest of the night.

The love letter

            However, I couldn’t see him physically, feel His presence, or hear his voice. So I landed on Isaiah 49:1-7 where it says “He has hidden me in the shadow of His hand.” And for the rest of the night those words echoed in my mind. “Shadow of your hand?” I repeatedly asked…

The love Note

            Afterwards, I arrived at my house and received a text message saying, “You have God’s blessing and hand covering over you!!! Be blessed! I got an image and a reminder from God, as there was a lonely cloud in the sky… There happened to be one ahead and behind the ‘lonely one.’’’ Everything made sense then. Although I was late He wasn’t, and He was literally covering me with the shadow of His hand. Mi Dios está pasao!

Give your digits up

You see, Jesus has a soft spot as well when it comes to dating. He takes pleasure in every single detail throughout the process. He as well experiences the exhilaration of the preparation each and every sixth day of the week. By name He calls out each of His stars to shine over both of you while spending some quality time.  Scripture is His love letter, and additionally from time to time makes alterations in Mother Nature to give you love notes.

            Therefore, let your self be seduced by the very source of love. You are only one prayer away. Only by dating God will you learn to date and love your future wife/husband.

Be blessed!

Peace! Be still... PART 2

“This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea” (Isaiah 48:17,18).

            A few days ago I wrote about the great blessing the Lord gifts to us when we are going through problems and storms –peace. Jesus assured that it comes from above and it’s something the Lord passionately desires to implant in our hearts no matter the circumstances we go through. The conclusion of the short devotional was, “I have problems but I’m at peace.”

            So it seems that the Lord wanted to test me if I really walked the talk. A couple of days after I wrote about peace, my computer wouldn’t turn on anymore. I took it to an Apple Store, and the technician diagnosed the problem with the following statement, “Your hard drive is fried; you need a new one.” And of course the million-dollar question followed, “What about all my information? My school documents? My research papers? All the valuable information I have accumulated throughout my college career? My programs? My pictures? My videos? I have Logos and Bibleworks there! Photoshop CS5 entire collection series too! Can I still recover them? His answer: “Sorry. We did everything we could. The hard drive is wiped clean and it is not responding. There are companies that physically open the hard drive, take disk by disk, and recover some of it’s data. It runs about $600 for a 500 GB hard drive. Good luck!”

            It seemed to me that the whole world was watching how I was going to react or what words were going to come out of my mouth after hearing such news. I silently took my computer, walked out of the store, sat at the bench in front of it, took out my Vegie delight 12-inch Subway sandwich, and slowly started eating it. Immediately, He sat next to me, turned his head towards mine, leaned a bit over, and a mix of whispers so hard to decode came across saying, “Peace. Be still.” And I was… It seemed that I was under anesthesia –I didn’t feel anything. Oh the awesome gift of peace…

You see, in every part of scripture, especially in the book of Leviticus, the words, “I AM” are constantly popping out. It seems to suggest that it’s audience may be suffering from some sort of short-term memory loss, and wants to make sure the reader keeps in mind who the great “I AM” is. Isaiah, in chapter 48:17,18, one more time states who the Lord is and what He is to us: Our redeemer who gifts us peace. Additionally, in chapter 57:18-21 brings it to a more personal level declaring that He heals and comforts the hurt and gives them ABUNDANT OVERFLOWING peace.

I tried several methods to recover some of the HD’s data and they failed time after time, so I went ahead and bought a new HD. You see, God didn’t fix my computer and he never promised He would anyway. What He has promised is to pastor, comfort, heal, and gift me peace in these kinds of situations. Isn’t that enough?

I know in whom I have believed in, and His presence is sufficient to me. What about you?