God bless!

      For many years I have tried to go against the grain, tried to get people to see things my way and do things my way. It simply has never worked out that way. In a perfect world, I guess everyone would have things their way, but we don't live in that kind of world. We all have someone we answer to, bosses, spouses, parents, etc. They were put there to instruct us and build us up. Are they all good? No. That doesn't mean they are all bad either! What I'm getting at today is that if we don't respect and acknowledge our human authorities we are not respecting or honoring our Lord. Don't fight me about it read the verse below. He wants us to react and behave towards them the way we would to Him. Simply put, if we listen and submit to our authorities we will develop and grow faster. If we fight them we will find ourselves losing out on our blessings, education and benefits. He put them there for a reason, let's tackle this day by listening, learning and treating our authorities as we would treat Jesus.

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Ephesians 6:5

Bondservants and Masters

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ

God bless!

     The biggest form to express doubt in something is by questioning it. Do you remember growing up what would happen when you questioned your parents? 👊. Though our human experience has shown the fruit of defiance, we still seem to do it, why? I'll sum it up in two words: "God Complex". Though we all will deny it we all fall into this category at one point or another. Speaking as a Pastor I see it in myself frequently. I'm not proud of it but I won’t lie about it either. So how do we fix it? We must recognize Gods Sovereignty, He is God, not us! He calls the shots and points us in the right direction. The best part of trusting in Him is realizing that His perspective or vision leads us to maximizing our blessings. His Sovereignty is dedicated to blessing us! That is just plain "Good News"! So as we progress in our life today, He encourages us to simply trust and allow Him to bless us!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Mark 2:8 "And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?"

God bless!

     Many of us at this point of the week are looking forward to the end of it. We are counting down the minutes to the awesome feeling of “Friday”. Though the thought excites me as well, I must say we have to begin to visualize our spiritual growth in the same fashion. We are almost there! I know many of us have had our lapses but the Grace of God surpasses them all. Wake up today with a feeling of joy and excitement because you are truly almost there!

Owning my happiness,

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

         Want to know where the biggest misconception in religious humanity is found? In the belief that going to a church will grant you the ability to meet perfect human beings. Church people are flawed. There are no perfect human beings in our churches today! We all have issues, we all make mistakes, but that is the beauty of His everlasting love! He loves us despite our issues and despite our flaws. He grants us opportunity after opportunity to make things right because of the Love His Son showed on our behalf. What are we doing with our opportunities? It’s time for us to take life by the horns and apply love instead of anger, love instead of hatred, love instead of pride. When we do this the image of the churches throughout the world will begin to change and Love once again will reign amongst us! Maybe you think your part is too small to make a serious impact on the world wide church? You are wrong. All major changes in life start with one person and you are that one person! Make the change today!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

    Are you in expectation of something big in your life? I'm sure like most of us your answer is yes, but do you know when it’s going to come? Many people cry, moan, clamor to God for things that we are waiting for and we honestly at times get frustrated because we don't SEE the result we desire; but read the verse below and tell me where it states that He shall change, renew or power us up? It doesn't does it? Our hope (waiting on) in God brings forth a supernatural wisdom, knowledge and understanding to our natural being. This understanding leads us to promoting change within ourselves. Many people have a misconception of God where they think if I go to God all will change at a snap of a finger. Can He do it? Of course! Will He? No, why? What gain do we have if He does everything for us? This is parenting 101, no loving parent will do everything for their child as this will develop into a counterproductive dependency from that child to the parent. Our Father is the best parent and He will lead us to the place where we realize "We shall!". Not He shall but We shall! Want change today? Make it happen! It all starts in your heart and in your mind. Seek Him and start walking until you get it right! Can you do it? It's more like, when will you do it! He guarantees it!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

But those who wait for the Lord shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Isaiah 40:31 AMP

God bless!

           Have you ever heard the saying: “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me?” The key to this saying is repetition, if we do something wrong the first time we can chalk it up to being gullible or naive but the second time it’s simply foolishness. The verse today talks about forgiveness and how we should seek and provide it but it also talks about “repeat offenders”. Now we must be careful in reading this to our own manipulative desires, I’m not saying cut anyone off but what I’m saying is a repeat offense will eventually lead people to separate from you and I or vice versa. People don’t like to be hurt and people don’t like to feel like someone is taking advantage of them. People want to be treated fairly. The moral of the devotional today is, if we forgive someone of something then let’s drop it and move on with our life, if we are the offender then we need to make every effort to stop the repeat offense. Is either scenario easy? No. that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! Let’s unite rather than separate, you CAN do all things through Christ Jesus!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 17:9 “He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends.”

God bless!

       To make believe that every church member in every church loves each other is a bit silly. We all have issues! We love some and we avoid others (can I be real?). It’s not right but it is true. The Bible does tell us we must Love one another because He first loved us so, what do we do now? I'll sum it up in one word: “Try”. If we don’t try we never will be able to see change in our life. We can’t sit around expecting perfection if we are not pushing towards it. I will leave you with one suggestion today: Love outside of your comfort level, go the extra mile and connect to another person that in the past you didn’t connect with. You have nothing to lose and the Word of God to put into action!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

1 John 4:11 “Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another.”

God bless!

       Retain Hope! Don’t forget who your Father is and what He has promised you. As you begin your day today revisit your vision and remind yourself that He is not man to lie and the words He speaks with His mouth He executes with His hand.

Gaining momentum!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

    I come with a message of hope for you today. I know just like me you must have been dealing with many challenges over this week but, I have great news for you: you made it through and you are still alive! Yes the devil tried to throw everything he could at you to knock you down but you are still standing! Keep your chin up today an recognize you are just two days away from your encounter with the Almighty! I’m excited about it, are you?

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

          It’s your time! Stop wasting it thinking of what should have, could have or would have been! It’s your time to begin to take by force your blessings and let those around you know that you are done playing games. You have spent way too much time trying to make everyone else happy and now your time has come to rejoice. How do you start the process? Get out there and stop putting your head down because of your past and pick up your head and realize that He is your Daddy! The King is your Father! He is your all! What can’t you have if He is owner of all things? Today get out of your pj’s and start to dress for success because that is your destiny!

Try Him, you’ve tried everything else!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

    Have you ever loved someone? I mean really loved them, not just because they did something for you, but unconditional love for them for who and what they were. Why do I ask? The reason I ask is because the love you show someone that can’t offer you something is the true love we all need to show each other. It’s not that “interested love” because I need a favor or that “I have to love you” because we share a relational title but a plain “I love you” for who you are. I’m sure many think this is a common love but the truth is, it isn’t. This unconditional love is found very infrequently. Many will never feel it due to selfishness or simply the inability to see past their own needs. It happens, it’s not right but it wouldn’t be right to live life thinking this never happens either. Why am I talking about this today? It’s time for us all to evaluate the love we have and share and make the necessary changes to carry the correct love. Imagine living a life of empty sacrifices? Imagine giving everything you are and it not counting for anything because we did it the wrong way or with the wrong intentions? It's simply silly to live life ignoring the signs and the Truth. Today I encourage you as I do myself not to feel bad about how we have been showing love, but to adjust our love and make it right. Love is very pliable as we can see from the verses below and if we only love when we are loved or taken care of, is that love?

Pastor Joell A. Perez

1 Cor. 13:4-13 "Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily....

God bless!

         Isn’t hard to deal with things that have no flexibility? Anything that is hard, stern, firm and simply not alterable? It is frustrating at times to deal with these characteristics in our surrounding items or people for that matter. Now let’s multiply that frustration times all of humanity, can you imagine how it must be for God to deal with all of our antics?  Our ups and downs, our likes and dislikes, etc. I can’t even imagine how He does it. Why am I talking about this today? We have to learn to be more pliable. We have to begin to bend if we want to be truly blessed, truly happy, truly successful. Think of it like this: we can remain in our state of being and continue as we are or we can bend and begin to see His promises fulfill in our lives. Which do you choose today?

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

       I remember as a kid going to baseball camp and all of my coaches telling me "keep your eyes on the ball". The obvious reason for this is, if I took my eyes off the ball, I was surely going to miss it. The same rule applies to our walk, except the ball is not a ball, but rather our goals. When we stay focused on our goals we will have the support of the Living One. Now maybe you’re asking: "why is that important?" Let me tell you, the Living One as the verse says below has the keys to death and hades. What this means is, like any door He can open it or leave it closed. If we take our eyes off of Him we will miss the moment He opens the door for us! I can’t speak for you, but I will say I want my eyes set on Him so I can get happiness, health and joy to the maximum! Are you ready to be blessed? If so then set your eyes on Him today!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Revelation 1:18 NIV)

God bless!

        We have all heard someone say "you have to have faith", but has anyone ever asked you to show them your faith? The book of James talks about us showing our faith through our actions and that is true but do we understand the impact we have on those around us when we show our faith? The reflection of our faith in the natural creates and environment for miracles to take place. Faith is the portal God uses to manifest Himself to humanity. In other words if we show faith we show who God is! When we show God we spread healing, joy, peace and so much more. Faith spreads forgiveness to those who are battling with guilt, faith spreads opportunity to those who feel like they are lost. In the verse today we see how faith moved Jesus to forgive the sins of a paralytic, which was precisely what was stopping him from having mobility. Do you know anyone who seems to be affected by spiritual paralyses? If so today is the day to show your faith and watch them be healed! The power of healing is within you!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Mark 2:5 "And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

God bless!

        The opposite of Faith is fear. Which do we prefer? Are we living our lives like squatters or are we living like owners? God has not called us to be dependent on anything or anyone but Him! We must understand today that we are called to be in complete authority and someone in authority is never afraid of what someone else thinks when on their property, they simply do what they please. Do you want to be happy? Then refuse to house or harbor sadness! Do you want to be in authority? Then recognize you have the inherited right to do so! You are not a tail, you are the head! Grab on to your faith because your blessings are yours to take but you can’t do it unless you recognize they are yours. No more Fear!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Matthew 8:26

26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

God bless!

     One of the hardest things to do in life is to humble oneself. I guess the reason it’s so difficult for us is because it takes a huge amount of trust in the other party that they won’t simply trample and destroy our attempt for peace (and simultaneously trample our pride). In other words: we are scared they will take advantage of a moment of apparent weakness. The key in this is to understand that the process of humbling oneself is not weakness but rather strength. What??? Yes, it takes all the authority within us to stand in the face of adversity and not react in the same fashion that we can theoretically be treated. Now what is needed for this process to become easier? FAITH. When we understand the heart of God all of a sudden things that seem impossible to do become easier because we realize that all instruction from the Lord comes with strength and resources to complete the task at hand. This completely applies to humbling oneself as well, when we view the process of humbling ourselves as something we are doing for God and not the person, we are engaging and all of a sudden our view of this process changes. The person becomes irrelevant and the point of bringing a smile to our Savior becomes our #1 priority. I encourage you today to have faith in whatever task God is putting before you, whether it be a big issue or a small one either way let’s use faith as a crutch to make God smile over us. You can do it and when you do, He promises to lift you up!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

     Have you ever felt unworthy to ask for something from God? Maybe you thought to yourself "I've been so bad, why would He bless me?". I have news today for you if this is your situation, your thinking is stinking and you have to wake up and realize He loves you! He loves you soo much that He gave up His Son for you, yes humanity as well but specifically for you! Why would He give up His Son and then hold back blessings from you? It's time to think big! We have to stop the stinking thinking and realize that if what we have is not enough all we have to do is ask for more! Don't steal from your neighbor by hating on what they have but rather ask God for what you want. Today I rebuke the devils hold over your thinking and mine and I command God’s blessings to pour out all over and around you! I declare that from this day forward your life will be extremely different than what it was but I need you to come in agreement with me for this to fulfill in your life, can you do it? The word of God says "where two or three come in agreement whatever they ask for will come to pass", the question is will you ask for the same thing with me?  In today's verse we see how God told David He would have added much more if it had been too little (the things he had) but David had to ask and not take things upon his own hands. The payment David made was huge because of his mistake and God doesn't want you and I to go through the same issues. Want more? Ask more! As we begin this "Faith Week Experience" I encourage you to Think Big! The best time of your life is yet to come!

Feeling blessed!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

And I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added that much again. (2 Samuel 12:8 AMP)