Time for reflection

     Today is Tuesday March 19, 2019. About 3 weeks ago I had a real bad fall and I severely pulled both of my quads. As the days went on I felt my legs get weaker.I was able to walk but for some reason I started sleepwalking almost every night and I was constantly falling down the stairs. I ended up sleeping in the living room for a couple days. It was that time where on a daily basis I was losing my balance and I ended up becoming physically paralyzed. I have been bedridden and although I should not feel ashamed that I need to be washed, cleaned, and taken cared for, I do feel ashamed and embarrassed. All I can say is that I will heal, I will recover, I will walk again. Remember this, it can always be worse. Every morning I wake up and have breathe in my lungs I am blessed. May God continue to bless you all.

We are in need of true leadership.

In leadership there is a difference between being the peacemaker to prevent conflicts and running away like a coward when conflict is inevitable. As a Christian leader I am ashamed to say that throughout my years in ministry I have met many "leaders" (and I use that word loosely) who in their actions show that they are afraid to stand up for what is right because they are afraid of conflict. They allow lies, rumors, gossip take over the church for fear of conflict. They lose souls, and many of the people they lose give up on God because of the way they were treated and not defended and protected. In any leadership position whether it be religious, business, etc conflict should always be the last resort. if you are unable to be the peacemaker and conflict is inevitable and you run away like a coward and betray good people then you need to step down from that leadership position and let someone else take over. From my experience, in the church you cannot preach that we should not have fear and then run away and betray people as soon as conflict knocks on your door. Same thing goes for business and other types of organizations. If a diplomatic solution cannot be found and conflict is inevitable then you must face it head on. I say this to say that sometimes you just have to face things head on. if you cannot then find someone who will. Running away and betraying good people will not solve anything and the problem will just continue to grow. Nip it in the bud before it is too late. Those are just my worthless two cents, Be blessed, stay strong. God loves you and so do I. Remember we must walk and act as Christ did. When diplomatic and peaceful solutions were not available He met it head on.

A Valentine Forever

First and foremost I will say that yes I know that Valentines Day was created by the Catholic Church, in order to get the pagans away from their Roman roots. In short it started as a pagan holiday. For many of us scholars this is an obvious thing. Personally I celebrate it on a daily basis, meaning I celebrate the LOVE of Jesus Christ everyday. I celebrate the LOVE I have for friends and family everyday, and I celebrate LOVE in general everyday. One of the things that I have learned is that God wants us to enjoy life as long as we don't break His word. I believe that God doesn't care one way or another if we celebrate foolish things such as birthdays, valentines day, etc. As long as we do not try to say God wants us to celebrate these things or say that the Word of God commands us to celebrate these things we should be fine. Celebrations of foolish things are a way for us to unwind, to fellowship with each other outside of the church ministry setting. The word fellowship simply means to come together. When my brother and I go to a movie we are in fellowship and celebrating our relationship as brothers and friends. So personally I do not see a problem with celebrating holidays such as Valentines day as long as we put it in the context that it is a foolish holiday where we celebrate and let loose. As long as we are not doing anything to break God's commandments we are OK. Now if you yourself feel convicted to not celebrate certain holidays then hey, more power to you. I believe we can agree to disagree but do not go on a rampage to condemn anyone who just wants to have fun. As long as they are not breaking God's commandments and doing something to defile their body to each their own. I know many might agree and many might disagree but as I stated earlier we can agree to disagree on this one. As we all get closer to God we must all ask Him to reveal to each and everyone of us His will for us as well as whether or not certain things we do are OK with Him or not. We are not perfect and must all draw closer to God and be refined. Stay strong and stay vigilant. God loves you and so do I.

Forgiveness In The New Year

Today is Sunday January 17, 2016. Many people have made new years resolutions, but I wonder how many have made it their resolution to forgive? Have you made it your resolution to forgive all those that have done wrong to you? I can sit here and quote scripture and tell you what the Word says but let us take another approach. Forgiveness is not about the other person, it is about you. It is about you saying that they will no longer have power over your life and you are choosing to move forward. We have all made mistake and committed errors. How can we expect God to forgive us if we do not forgive others? Remember that we are not innocent of any sin. One of the hardest things for a person to do is forgive. The person who did us wrong will probably never apologize or ask for forgiveness. In those cases we must just take the higher path and forgive. Release yourself from that grip that they have on you so you can peacefully move forward. I would rather have peace of mind than sadness and anger in my heart. So what is your resolution? I hope that forgiveness is one of them.
Stay strong and ever so vigilant. God loves you and so do I.
- Pastor Josue Mercado

Keep Moving Forward

One of the hardest things in ministry is continuing to follow God's path especially when things hit you hard and personal. The devil will attack you where it hurts. He will break up relationships, families, marriages. Satan will physically, spiritually, and emotionally hurt you and your loved ones. He takes no hostages, and he continues his attack. Satan will do everything he can to bring you down and keep you down. The question is, what are you going to do? In my own personal life, Satan has attacked and destroyed something that I held dear to my heart. While I will not get into the details, I will say that he tried to entice me to get revenge. He tried to force me to handle everything myself. While I got depressed, and was angry at the situation, I prayed to God and asked Him to handle the situation. I waited on God to tell me to move, and I waited for His answers to my questions. It was one of the hardest things I had to deal with in my life. Through it all God saw me through it, comforted me, and gave me so much love, attention, and affection. I am in a period of my life where I am moving forward to a new level in my relationship with Christ. I am being led down an awesome path that in my being obedient to Him God has blessed me more than words can describe. We must always remember that God is there at all times. During the good and the bad. We must rejoice in His presence at all times, for He is always with us, loving, guiding, ministering, providing, and protecting us. I often wonder why so many people have lost faith in God, then He reminds me that people didn't have faith in Him but in mankind. They had faith in the man or woman of God who was their Shepard. Many times people get hurt in the church and because of their lack of faith in God they look elsewhere. The devil will hit all of us hard. He will try to take us all down, and continue to try to destroy us. I don't know about you but, my faith is in God and God alone. I am not a perfect man, I make my errors, but I continue to go to God. He is the center of my focus, and while I might disappoint Him from time to time in my sin. I live for Him, He is my everything. Remember that our faith is in Him not man. Stay strong and stay vigilant. God loves you and so do I.

There Comes A Time

There comes a time in a Christian's, Minister's life when we have to take a stand. We always have to take a stand for God, but this is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is, we have to take a stand for ourselves. We as Christians must be humble, patient, and kind. Too many times people take advantage of that. They see our humility, patience, and kindness as a weakness. I can assure you that it is not a weakness, and for those who try to take advantage of me will get another thing coming to you. There is only so much nonsense I will take before I just get up and leave. I have left before and I will leave again. I make no apologies, and I have no regrets. In ministry I am here to work, spread the gospel, and teach. I make no apologies for leaving because of the fact I left those who pushed me to the side, or have taken advantage of me. I have already lost too much in my life to allow anyone to take away my relationship with God. If in the end I only have my relationship with God and have been able to bring people to Christ so they can repent and have eternal life than it was all worth it. The world has nothing to offer me, and people have nothing to offer me. God is the only one who has anything to offer. Because of Jesus I have eternal life. I want that for everyone else just like God does. But just like Christ I will not force myself onto anyone. If you push Christ away He will leave. If you push me away I will leave. You make the choice.

Joshua 24:14-15

¹⁴ “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

 

Reflections

For those of you who are following my blog, that is if there is anyone following my blog, you know I try not to hold back. In my first blog ever I stated that wise men speak because they have something to say and foolish people speak because they just want to be heard. I stand by that statement 100%. People who really know me know that I am not an outspoken man. They know that I try to stay out of things unless it is necessary for me to really say something. I have found that as of late it has been more and more necessary for me to speak up. It is a shame that in a time where many profess to be Christians that not many speak out against the things against God. Satan has attacked me in more ways than I would like to count. It has been a rough patch for me but I know God will save and restore the things taken from me. I wish I didn't have to go through this. I wish that it was all over right now and everything was back to normal. While I doubt that it will be over and everything will be restored overnight I know that it will be restored. I just have to be patient and praise Him while I wait. Sometimes when I pray I tell God I have been patient enough. I scream to the sky demanding that everything be restored. The answer I get is "Wait and be patient, my grace is sufficient for you." But the question is, how much longer do I have to wait? I currently have God in a headlock and I refuse to let go until everything gets restored, and the blessings promised to me are released. I will be like Jacob holding on for dear life. God Bless you all. May God's Peace and Blessings Be Upon You All.