God bless!

        I may not have the nicest voice but He isn't interested in our voice. I may not be able to hit the highest Octaves but He isn't interested in that either. All He cares about is our desire to worship Him. Do you love Him? Do you have reasons to worship Him? If your answer is yes then I encourage you to SING to Him! Sing like you don't care who hears you. Sing like you don't care what they will say! No matter who is around remember He is always around to help, bless and lift you! 

He is Awesome!

Pastor Joell

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:6 AMP)

God bless!

       As a person who prefers stability over anything else it is difficult to write this devotional because I can’t say I’m fully living what I’m about to write. I’m sure many are saying “then why write it?”. The reason I am writing it is because at times in life we have to make ourselves accountable and what better way than to email all of you and put myself out there? SO here I go! God wants to bring change to our lives. The change that He is going to bring will discomfort our routines and make us “unstable”. What do I mean? Not that we will be unstable but we will feel this way because we are not accustomed to being out of our normal place. Is it bad? Not at all! The change He will bring to our life will produce an environment of growth that we have been asking for and praying for now for a long time. So how do we prepare for it? We don’t. That’s the key, we can’t prepare for this change we just have to have an open mind and heart for it to take place. So what’s the next step? Pray, wait and believe. Through prayer we will begin to allow God to enlarge our vision, through waiting we will learn to appreciate what we have so we can treat what is coming with greater care and through believing Him we will receive the change. 

Keeping my eye on the Lord…

Pastor Joell

God bless!

     Have you ever thought to yourself; how can these bad things happen to me? How can this be? I’m a Christian! I’m His child! I think we all have felt this way at one point or another but after some time we realize those things we see as being a hindrance or bad for us quickly dissipated. Was the process easy? Of course not! Did you make it out of it? yes! Why am I talking about this today? It’s simple; today we find ourselves in a very similar circumstance (some of us that is) and as the enemy whispers in our ear we think… maybe I should give up? Well I come today to tell you to hang on! I’m sure things are hard and seem impossible but remember the God you serve. He is God of the impossible! Don’t lose hope today because it is the only thing along with God that will get you out of this.

Hanging on…

Pastor Joell

Blessings,

Many times in life we have been told or taught to stay on guard. Whether it’s been at work as part of our duties, at school as part of our assignments, or in our personal lives. In one way or another it has been engraved in us to be on guard about a certain thing, activity, or issue. We tell our children to be on guard while crossing the street, we even tell adults to be on guard while driving. It has become a normal theme in our everyday life. 

This too needs to be part of our daily lives in our walk with God. The Bible tells us the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion. He is out to try to devour us, and our job is to remain on guard and stop him from intruding in our lives. So we must remain firm on the word and our guard  must be up against any wicked assignment. Since the enemy can’t stand up and fight you, he will try to use others to rise up against you. Our job is to not let ourselves get carried away by these distractions and remain firm in God. Ultimately in God is where we rest and where we are secure!

Today I remind you how important it is to remain focused and on guard in our walk with Christ. Although things might come up, he will always keep us secure. Have a blessed day.

P. Felix Rosero

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. (2 Peter 3:17 NIV)

God bless you,

Most people including many non-Christians have heard the David and Goliath story...a young boy facing a killer giant and destroying it through  God's strength and wisdom. No big weapons, no heavy duty protective gear, no human army backing him up; it was just Goliath, David, and his faith that God, the Lord of hosts had his back and will help him defeat the enemy. David wasn't the only one to face a giant...whether we admit it or not, whether we realize it or not, we all have giants we have to face and kill!! We all have Goliaths that want us dead (I'm not really talking about other humans, I'm referring to all the tactics Satan uses to try to destroy us). We all have things we are fighting against...some are clearly huge giants that intimidate us and some other giants may be hiding behind certain things that make them look smaller but at the end these are all things the enemy uses to try and destroy us. David took five small stones and a huge faith in God with him to war and with one of his stones, he took care of business and defeated his enemy...what are your weapons? How are you facing your giants? Are you defeating your giants or are they taking over more of your territory? No matter what you and I are facing today, God is for us!!! He will never stop looking out for us. He goes before us, he is right beside us, he watches our back, he surrounds us and protects us. Today, I encourage to look at your giants straight in the eye and tell them,” I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel. You have said bad things about him. Today the Lord will let me defeat you." 

1 Samuel 17:45-46 

Pastor Laura Palacios

 

Let's not forget the following:

"Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

God bless!

Have you ever found yourself looking down at your abilities while others did the exact opposite? In scripture we see Moses claiming to stutter and not having the ability to speak well but the verse below says quite the opposite. Why does this happen? People can see God in us while we only tend to see the human side of ourselves. Why? We are our worst critics. We quietly dislike ourselves (you can fight this statement all you want but when you look in the mirror do you smile or complain?). We've been prepared, we've been called and we've been equipped! Now all we have to do is educate ourselves in how to see God in us. How do you do this? Accept His sacrifice, value His sacrifice and believe in His sacrifice! It has nothing to do with ourselves and everything to do with Him. He is bigger than us, when we really believe this then we will be the fullness of who He has designed us to be. At that point we will be able to stand against any voice that says different including our own!

Realizing I can do all things through Him!

Pastor Joell

So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was mighty (powerful) in his speech and deeds. (Acts 7:22 AMP)

God bless!

    Picture this for a moment: your siblings and you playing in the park, playing video games together, eating dinner together, sharing desserts together and one day they hate you enough to sell you into slavery. Just like that, from one day to another you went from being loved to being despised. Ever experienced something similar? Maybe it wasn't your siblings, maybe it was your ex-spouse, your children, your best friend, etc. when this occurred did you feel God was with you? I'm sure all the super Christians are preaching at the computer screen right now but I want to talk to the real, down to reality Christians that still realize they sin daily. Did you feel Him? Maybe you felt like I have, Alone. Maybe you felt broken. Maybe you felt like a piece of your soul was ripped out and trampled. Am I trying to get you down today? No, I'm trying to let you know that you are not alone in feeling the way you feel. I've been there and I know how bad it hurts but.... Through those extremely difficult times I've read stories like the one of Joseph and they have reminded me that I was designed for royalty and NO ONE can take my crown away from me! Today I encourage you to believe He is with you because He has promised to be. Believe it because if He didn't leave any of the patriarchs, He won't leave you! Forget what anyone has done to you and remember what He has, is and will do for you!

Thanking Him for being Him.

Pastor JOELL

And the patriarchs [Jacob's sons], boiling with envy and hatred and anger, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him, (Acts 7:9 AMP)

God bless! 

      Today's verse is about the life of Abraham. What a faith full testimony was the life of Abraham. Think about it, one day you are living life as normal and the next day you are packing up to go "somewhere". Not to mention so many other testimonies in his life. With the discomfort of the move he arrives to a location and gets nothing except a promise. Now to most these days a promise means just about nothing but the same does not apply to God. God speaks only what WILL happen. He doesn't tell you something simply to appease you, He tells you things that He has already put things in position for "it" to be fulfilled. That's right, He doesn't speak then act, He acts then He proclaims. Whatever you and I are waiting on that He has promised is going to happen. The catch is that it's at His time and not ours. Trust me I want it just as bad as you do but trying to force His promise will only make us grow frustrated and allow our faith to diminish. I end with saying His promise in our lives is real and will be completed but like Abraham we have to wait on His perfect timing.

Holding on to His promise.

Pastor Joell

Yet He gave him no inheritable property in it, [no] not even enough ground to set his foot on; but He promised that He would give it to Him for a permanent possession and to his descendants after him, even though [as yet] he had no child. [Gen. 12:7; 17:8; Deut. 2:5.] (Acts 7:5 AMP)

God bless!

       Isn’t it awesome to see a bird fly in the air without an apparent care in the world? They hover above all of us and go and come as they please. Though this is such a great liberty many don’t realize it comes at a great expense. What expense? Each bird goes through a very in-depth training process, it consists of its birth, the development of its wings then the mother bird lines the bird up at the edge of the nest and simply pushes the bird out of the nest. At this point one of two things can happen: the bird falls out the nest and violently flaps its wings until the moment it starts to take flight or it falls out of the nest and spirals down to its demise. Interesting isn’t it? Many of us find ourselves at the edge of that nest today and the question I pose to each of us today is: will we soar above the rest of fall to our demise? There is no time for failing for Christians as we were not designed to fail. It’s our time to soar above the rest as we have been predestined for greatness!

Taking flight…

Pastor Joell

God Bless,

Isn't it fascinating when you ask God for something in particular, that you were longing for and you receive it? Your faith level at that point sky rockets! You are so thankful with God and you begin to say, “Lord you have been so good to me, what can I do to show you my love"? (Maybe at this point you were are probably saying uh-oh), what did I get myself into? God then begins speaking into your heart, and demonstrates the many things that you have stored in your heart due to unfortunate circumstances. You then realize, that you have been storing venom(poison) in your heart which can cause harm to you and others. It's not easy addressing your past hurts, but as we all know poison kills. God is love, and he does not want us to continue living a life that will crush our hearts and destroy our spirit. He has given us the opportunity to take the life which is filled with peace, joy, happiness, love ... (Galatians 5:22). If he is knocking at the door of your heart, allow him to enter in. Don't just address your circumstances, address your heart as well. Allow God to renew your heart!

Pastor Deborah Rosero

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV / And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Colossians 3:17 (ERV) "Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus."

God Bless You,

The Bible has many beautiful examples of individuals who truly loved God and did all things without any concern of what other "humans" thought or what they would get back from them; they did it for God!! Aren't we called to do the same? Why is it that many times we wait until we are asked to do something and even at this point, we complain and think we are doing it for the "human" asking? It's here where we make our biggest mistakes. When we do things so others could appreciate us, acknowledge us, and thank us later we are exposing our hearts to get hurt...not everyone will acknowledge our efforts or work the way we would like (this rarely happens actually). If we are doing things for "human approval", we are doing things the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. When we do this, we are only looking for wounds, offense, rejection, low self-esteem and many other negative things we don't need in our hearts. Let's do ALL things as today's verse tells us: "Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord." Not even our smallest action will be ignored or discarded by God, he is always watching and he knows the intentions of our heart. He will never let one little thing go unrewarded; he keeps count...HE IS GOD!! 

Pastor Laura Palacios

Proverbs 24:16 “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.”

God Bless You,

We should feel conviction when we sin…something inside of us knows that sin is wrong because we were made in the nature of God and he is the total opposite from sin. We sinned, we messed up, we did something we weren’t supposed to, we said the wrong thing, we looked at something we knew not to…let’s not get so engulfed on what we did wrong and just recognize that we need to change!! When this happens, let’s ask God to forgive us and help us change and obviously do our part to truly change. Let’s be conscious that as much as God loves us, we cannot play around with his unconditional love and just sin carelessly knowing he’ll forgive us. We need to stop punishing ourselves for things God has already forgiven and forgotten about, we need to forgive ourselves sometimes…Selah. The Word doesn’t say that the righteous man won’t fall; it says that when he does fall (spiritually speaking), they will get up again!! We can only accomplish this through God’s love and strength but they key point to remember today is that we need to get up and move forward. Don’t get stuck in things that God already has a solution for!!

Pastor Laura Palacios

Isaiah 46:3-4 “…I have carried you since you left your mother’s womb. I carried you when you were born, and I will still be carrying you when you are old. Your hair will turn gray, and I will still carry you. I made you, and I will carry you to safety.”

God Bless You, 

GOD will never leave us or forsake us!! Why do we doubt this so many times even though he has always proven his love and faithfulness to us time and time again? When has he failed you? Keep in mind that not receiving everything we want when we want it does not mean failure…Selah (God always knows what we need and when we need it). Today’s verse is so clear that it truly speaks on its own. I can’t even describe how wonderful it feels to have the certainty and assurance that God has always been with us…he truly has and not only has he always been with us but he also promises to be with us even as we age and our hair turns white Lol!! GOD will never leave us or forsake us!! He created us…He was with us in our mother’s womb…He was with us when we were born, He was with is in our childhood, our adolescence, when we cry, when we laugh, young…old…He will always be there AND as the verse says: HE WILL CARRY US TO SAFETY…our wellbeing, our happiness, our success, our security is always a priority for him…Is he our priority?

Pastor Laura Palacios

God bless!

Peace is awesome! The thought of peace alone brings a sense of relaxation and completeness. To think that He desired thousands of years ago to deliver peace through His Son is simply breath taking. He sacrificed the highest prize for people who were not even born yet. For people like you and I that He already knew would make MANY wrong choices. How can He love that much? I don't think that understanding will ever fit in my tiny brain but I choose to not understand it but rather embrace it and accept it, do you? Can we accept the peace He is offering? Will there be issues? Yes! The fact is we will have obstacles but peace helps us envision problems as simple footstools to a new higher level of blessings. Feel like you've failed to do this up to this point? That's ok, todays a new day so let's start fresh.

Pastor Joell

And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:20 AMP)