God Bless You!

God knew we would have negative thoughts, he knew that many different things will cross our mind. What would happen if our thoughts were on display in a movie screen for everyone to see? Would they be pleasing to God? I dare say that each one of us would probably be embarrassed and extremely uncomfortable if our thoughts were all out in the open for everyone to see. Ouch!! Since God knew not all our thoughts would be positive and pure, he left specific instructions for us on what we should allow in our mind. He told us to focus on the true, noble, righteous, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things. Why? Because only these kind of thoughts would bring peace and joy to our heart. Why do you think our brain controls all of our bodily functions?  Do you think this is a coincidence? Not at all!! The thoughts we allow in our brain are like the fertilizer for the seeds of greatness God has placed in each one of us. If we don’t nurture these with the correct “fertilizer” (the kind of thoughts God instructed), we will weaken our roots instead of strengthening them and they will no longer produce suitable fruit. I know how hard it is but our thoughts cannot be controlled by our emotions, they need to be controlled by the power and knowledge of who God really is in our lives and who we are in Him. Let’s remember that when the apostle Paul wrote today’s verse he was not in the best of conditions, he was in jail…he did not let his emotions run his thoughts he was focused on God no matter what was happening around him and this is what we all need to learn to do. 

Pastor Laura Palacios

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

God bless,

You have been preparing and packing for weeks now! You are going on an awesome road trip with your family. The RV is fully packed. You bought the groceries and packed your clothes and all the necessities for a nice time of relaxation on the road and with nature. Everyone is so excited you can’t even stand it! The day arrived and off you go on your road trip, past the city landscapes and into the countryside and just as you get into the middle of nowhere, intersection pine trees and wild life, your tank goes empty! You filled your RV with everything except the main ingredient to transport you and get you through the wild and desert places. You are helpless and scared and have no back-up fuel to get you to the nearest gas station; to you all hope is lost!

How many of us are like this RV? Filled with everything life has to offer, but are running on empty with the Word of God (Gasoline)? And when life takes us into the wild and deserted places we have nothing left to get us through the harshness that the elements of life throw at us! It’s not too late! Get out of the RV (the circumstance you are in) and walk to the nearest gas station (church) and get filled with His word and Spirit and get some back up fuel to fill up our spiritual tank with God and let’s be ready the next time we are in the wilderness!!!

Anxiously awaiting my next meeting with you God!

Pastor Elizabeth Z. Perez

God bless!

      Have you ever shared a cup or drink with someone? Normally if you do it's done because you trust that person, you trust they are healthy, you trust they are clean, you simply believe they won't hurt you. Sharing something with someone that can directly affect you should never be taken lightly. The same principal applies in the spiritual, who de we trust? Are we sitting at the table of God or someone else's table? We can't maintain a relationship if we are flirting with others as eventually it will catch up to us and we will find ourselves in some major stuff! We need to choose today! Will we pick Gods cup or someone else's?

Pastor Joell A. Perez

1 Corinthians 10:21 " You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons."

God bless,

Please don’t take this question as an offense…I am only trying to make a point: Are you the devil’s child? What!!? Why is she asking us that? Of course not!! I am a child of God…yes you are right, you are  sons and daughters of God because Jesus paid the price for us to be called children of God but, when we choose lies over the truth…we are putting ourselves in a horrible position. Not only is lying a sin but the Word tells us that Satan is “the father of all lies”, Jesus himself said this. So when we lie, what does that make us? Selah…

Let’s remember that telling the truth is always best and the righteous thing to do; this is why Jesus is the Truth!! Every time we lie (there is no such things as a “white lie”, Jesus did not color code lies) we are building a wall between Jesus and us…why would we want to separate from him?

Pastor Laura Palacios

John 8:44 (ERV) “Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies.”

God bless!

      In life there are certain characteristics that are a simple turn off. One of them if not the biggest is being arrogant. Arrogance is really not about lifting oneself up but rather about putting everyone else down. It's the mindset of not being able to recognize anyone else as your equal. The Bible warns us to take heed of this attitude, it does so because though we may start by doing this in comparison to humans it eventually evolves to try to be used in comparison to God. This mindset leads us to think "we got this", but the truth is we "ain't got nothing". It is only through Him we can do all things and we tend to realize that, only when we fall flat on our face. So the moral today is simply to stay humble so we don't get humiliated by life and it's challenges.

Pastor Joell A. Perez

1 Corinthians 10:12

" Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."

God bless!

      Have you ever heard that saying "it's not about winning or losing but rather about having fun"? It's a nice concept but, not one as Christians we should adopt. Can you imagine living a semi-Christian life and ending up in the wrong place after this life? Would you still think it was about the "fun" you were able to have? Christianity is a race that is run against time. Yes time! Not against other Christians and certainly not against the devil as he's been disqualified from this race. We race against time. Time will either allow us to win the race as we make the best use of it, or it will consume our thoughts, peace and ultimately our salvation. Will we let time run right by us? It's time to put on our running shoes, realize we still have an opportunity to win this race and simply do it! Don't race for fun, race for your life, your life depends on it!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

1 Corinthians 9:24 " Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it."

God bless!

      Do you ever feel bad because you can't seem to get passed your past? Many of us get stuck in this imaginary seat of self-judgment and we don't allow ourselves space to breathe enough to realize we are not the person we used to be. The verse today speaks about covenant and how the old is surpassed by the new but it mentions that the old will SOON disappear. Why do I emphasize this? The reason is because there is a time where the past has to be present to motivate us to make the future our today. If we didn't have the past we could never appreciate the things to come. Today I encourage you by telling you the past will soon disappear but for now turn the curse around by reminding yourself not of who you were but rather who you have become!!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:13 NIV)

God bless!

       Have you ever felt like the wrong you did in life was so big nothing could make it right? Many of us won't admit this but the truth is we devalue the sacrifice made on the cross constantly. How? By thinking "we" have to do something to make things right. He did all that was needed but we can't embrace that Truth unless we accept it. Can you imagine living an entire life of religiousness and your last day comes and you don't go to heaven? We will never get into heaven unless we confess Him as our Lord and Savior and there is no way to do that unless we truly trust and believe His sacrifice. He did it once and that was enough to cover the worst of the worst we may have done. Receive it today as He is coming back soon!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28 NIV)

Deuteronomy 6:5 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being and with all your might.”

God bless!

     Have you ever felt like your good deeds were simply not paying off? Like no one recognized or appreciated them? You are probably right, most people tend to ignore good until it is no longer existent. In other words we take things for granted, that's the Truth! Thank God though our good deeds are not done for the acceptance of people but rather for the Glory of God! If we find ourselves doing good deeds so man recognizes them we will grow frustrated but, if we put things into the correct order and realize that all good deeds we do are performed due to our appreciation of Him then we will disconnect from the need of human acceptance and enter into a state of spiritual fulfillment. Is this easy? Not at all! Nonetheless I'll put it to you like this:  can you imagine if Jesus only would have offered salvation if He was accepted during His time on earth? We would all be lost at this time but, what He did was done as an offering of obedience to the Father. We benefited due to His ability to disregard the fact that those He was helping penalized Him and to be obedient to the Father whom did not overlook His sacrifice. Well thank God that the Father doesn't overlook the sacrifice you make either! Don't lose hope or your drive, your payoff is coming!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

For God is not unrighteous to forget or overlook your labor and the love which you have shown for His name's sake in ministering to the needs of the saints (His own consecrated people), as you still do. (Hebrews 6:10 AMP)

God bless!

         I’m going to keep it short and sweet today. You’d be surprised to see how much you can get done if you stay focused and avoid distractions. Try it today, avoid the “water cooler” conversations, the meaningless text messages, the wasteful social media updates, block out the nonsense and stick to your tasks!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

    Life is not a sprint it’s a marathon. I come today to tell you “not yet”. Don’t pull the trigger on that deal yet. Don’t make that major decision yet. Keep praying as the time is near. Let your patience show your growth. I know you are frustrated but hold on! You know who you are.

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

       I'm sure many of us will not go crazy about today's devotional because there are few people who enjoy working but, it is part of who we are. Why do I say that? Well if you read the verse of today you will notice how from the beginning after the transgression of Adam and Eve there were certain consequences that were birthed due to their walk. One of those consequences was taking on the responsibility of provision (in the physical), yes we all know Jehovah is our Jireh but Jehovah is not an enabler of laziness. Adam was instructed to work for his provision. God didn't do this to punish Humanity, quite the opposite, God realized it was necessary for man to work for his provision so that he would appreciate the outcome. How do I know? Would Adam and Eve eat from the tree they ate from if they would have appreciated the work that it took to lift up all the other trees in that garden? As they say: easy come, easy go. If you don't sweat you just don't seem to love it truly. Today I encourage you to change your perspective on work, is it easy? No, but that is the reality of life and we have to realize it refines our appreciation of what we have.

Appreciating my work...

Pastor Joell A. Perez

In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19 AMP)

God bless!

        Do you feel like life is spinning out of control? Things just don't seem like they are going the way you think they should? Why is this happening? The verse below tells us all things are subject to us so, why do we allow our lives to be subject to all things? We have to Stop allowing "things" to dictate our joy. If it's raining outside we are gloomy, if it's sunny outside we are happy, if we have money in the bank we have peace, if we lost money on a deal we are sad, why do we allow things to determine our state of being? NO MORE!!!! We are in control and not the things around us! I encourage you today to put things in check and walk the path of authority God laid out for us. If we don't someone else or something else will.

Getting in control,

Pastor Joell A. Perez

For You have put everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to man, He left nothing outside [of man's] control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him [man]. (Hebrews 2:8 AMP)

God bless!

     Many people get caught up on when they will do something or when they will have something, how do I know? Look at the lines for Black Friday shopping, concert ticket buying lines, cell phone store lines on days of a new phone release, etc. We all want something now or soon but sometimes the time is irrelevant and what matters is the final outcome. The verse below talks about the importance of not timing but rather making it. The walk of a Christian is exactly that a walk and not a run. Let's stop rushing to our final destiny and enjoy the walk.

Eating this one up :)

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (Luke 13:30 NIV)

God bless!

     Imagine you were walking on the beach and you dropped a very valuable piece of jewelry. Would you just brush the top of the sand surface and give up if you didn’t find it? or would you dig deeper and deeper until you were able to find it? Of course you would dig deep until you found what was yours, as well as I would. So, I encourage you today to DIG DEEP! Don’t give up on your prize today! I know many of us grow frustrated because we can’t seem to find our “prize” but we simply can’t give up. Keep pushing and keep digging until you find your prize!

Digging along with you,

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!

       Many of us are deceived in thinking we are alone in the battles we face. We feel like no one can or wants to understand us but that's simply a lie from the pit of hell. This is the method the enemy uses to try to isolate us from help. What many of us don't want to do is expose ourselves to vulnerability. So what if people realize we are not perfect, neither are they! Today I remind you that you are not alone in your struggles and you don't have to keep them to yourself. Communication with God and your brethren is the key to the next level. What do you have to lose?

Pastor Joell A. Perez

God bless!     

     When thinking of certain people or places many of us get caught up on what we heard or what we knew of them from the past.  We tend to rely on our past experiences only to make a current judgment on a situation or person. There is usually no room for variation or change in our eyes because we can't seem to get over our "feelings" towards them. Isn't interesting how faith is not dependent on feelings? Feelings are deceiving and in some cases very temporary. I'll give you an example: when we go on a diet we get amped up (feelings) about what we are not going to eat and what exercise we are going to do but, as time passes many of these feelings start to deteriorate until we begin to steer away from the goal, why? The change was based on feelings and feelings modify based on time and circumstance.  In the verse below we see how Nathanael prejudged an entire region because of His feelings but the interesting part as Phillip's response: "come and see". There ares times in life where we have to rely on our senses (sight) rather than our feelings (past experiences), if we don't we may find ourselves missing out on great blessings!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

John 1:46 "Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

God bless!

    Many of us read the verse of today and use it as a "crutch" to hold on to sin in certain areas of our life. This was not the reason it was written. Yes His sacrifice erased and cleansed us from sin that was present and that to come but we should never use that as a reason to continue to sin. In fact it should motivate us to want to abolish sin in us all together. I'll put it simply: have you ever gone on a business dinner where you were not picking up the bill? During this dinner did you select the dish you would normally select or the most expensive? Many of us would probably acknowledge that the dish we choose would not be our choice if we were picking up the tab. Why do we do it? Frankly we take advantage of the situation. Are we doing the same thing with God? Are we taking advantage of the sacrifice of His Son? If we were then thank God we have an opportunity to change today! Sure there is sins we do without realizing (hmm) but those we don't, we have to begin to eliminate.

Pastor Joell A. Perez

For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy. (Hebrews 10:14 AMP)

God bless!

      Have you ever felt like God simply forgot about you? Have you felt like His promise passed you by? Have you ever been angry with God because things weren't exactly the way you wanted or envisioned them? I know I have. Yes a Pastor has! Yes a man that preaches faith and hope to others has felt faithless and hopeless at times! Do I say it with pride? No, I say it in truth. We all go through difficult times, no matter your economic level, gender, background, etc. On our level we all go through things that seem to be "the end of the world" but they are not. The problem we have is we still see things at our level not realizing He abides in us. There is no failure in Him, therefore there is no failure in us as He is part of us!! You have to grasp this concept!! He is reliable ALL the time! As long as we allow Him to abide in our lives things will play out the way He predetermined them to play out. Include Him and we succeed, exclude Him and things will not seem bad but they will be bad. Don't doubt His reliability! He is always right on time.

Pastor Joell A. Perez

So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word. (Hebrews 10:23 AMP)

God bless!

   Have you ever noticed that during hard times we always seem to stop looking forward and focus on the floor? It’s almost as if our emotions are reflected in our visual direction. why? Let me be clear, I’m not here to answer this question today but rather to tell all of us to stop focusing on explaining why things aren’t working and start figuring out ways to get them to work. Radically change your visual path! Don’t allow the enemy to steer your sight away from the goal (even if that enemy is yourself!). Do it by simply not satisfying our desire to give up. There is no giving up in Christianity! It’s time to push forward!!

Pastor Joell A. Perez