At All Times... Praise

                           This is my favorite song. Alaba a Dios - Danny Berrios.

                                          
                                              This is the chorus to the song:


                                                                                 Oh alaba, simplemente alaba,
                                                                                 Estas llorando alaba
                                                                                 En la prueba alaba,
Estas sufriendo alaba
No importa alaba,
Tu alabanza El escuchara

Dios va al frente abriendo camino
Quebrando cardenas sacando espinas
Manda a sus angeles contigo luchar
El abre puertas nadie puede cerrar
El trabaja para los que confian
Camina contigo de noche y de dia
Levanta tus manos tu victoria llego
Comienza a cantar y alaba a Dios


This is a rough translation in English:

Eliminate the Snakes...

I was outside raking leaves today and I was thinking about snakes. I wanted to get the leaves up because, among other things, I do not want to give snakes a place to live. Snakes will always seek out a place to hide; under leaves, a log, or a rock. I want to eliminate the opportunity for a snake to reside in my yard. 

The Lord spoke to me and said that the yard is like the heart. Of course, we need to do the heavy lifting to clean the large objects from our hearts (logs, old wood piles, bricks) which is the sin in our lives. Most of us have cleaned these up. But we must do maintenance cleaning also. We must "rake the leaves" so to speak. We need to clean up the attitudes and selfishness that clutter our hearts, smother the fertile soil, and allow the snakes (sin) a place to hide. 

To Fast Or Not To Fast: That Is The Question

Fasting: verb (used without object)

1. to abstain from all food.

2. to eat only sparingly or of certain kinds of food, especially as a religious observance.





There is much confusion amongst christians about fasting. Are we supposed to fast? How do we fast?

The answers to these questions are in Matthew 6:16-18.

Prayer

How do you pray? When do you pray? Why do you pray? Do you pray?

Many christians today do not know what it is to pray. We come to God with a "Grocery List" of wants, needs, and problems; when all that He wants is for us to be quiet and wait for him to speak to our hearts.

Prayer is communion with God. It is a two-way conversation. We speak to Him, then we wait for Him to speak to us. He does not speak with an audible voice, but He is the "still, small voice" that we hear in our hearts. If we ask Him a question, He will answer. If we praise Him and exalt His name, He will strengthen and encourage us.

Who's Job Is It?

I want to apologize ahead of time today. This post will be difficult for some people, but truth is truth. This is a hard truth to accept at times. Christians today want the power and blessings of the Holy Spirit, but they want others to do their spiritual work.

Each person is responsible for their own walk with Jesus. The day that we stand before the throne of Jesus we will stand alone to answer for what we have done. Our pastors, youth leaders, and spouses will not be with us. In that day we will have to give account of our own actions (or lack of actions) to our Lord and Savior.

Pop Quiz:

Which of the following phrases is in the Bible?

          1. The Lord helps those who help themselves.
          2. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
          3. Spare the rod, spoil the child
          4. This too shall pass.
          5. The Lord works in mysterious way.

The Fruit Of The Spirit

What is the fruit of the Spirit? Most people answer, "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness, and self control." (Gal 5:22) But what does that mean? Let's take a deeper look into this scripture.

The Lord often uses symbolism to teach truths to His people. Here He compares His people to trees that produce fruit. We will use an apple tree as an example for this message. An apple tree does not produce fruit when it is first planted. It has to take root and grow. It has to mature before it can be useful. It takes 3 - 5 years before a tree can produce apples. The first fruits from the tree are sometimes small and sparse. The key for the

Why We Do What We Do

Upside Down seems like a strange name for a ministry. Well this is how it happened...

I was at a discovery camp in Columbus, Texas with the kids of our church. Anyone who has taken kids to a summer camp can tell you that there are 3 requirements to maintain your sanity: At least 2 hours of sleep per night, plenty of coffee, and as much time alone with the Holy Spirit as possible.  I sat, this particular morning at 6:30 am, in the Breezeway reading my bible, watching the beautiful sunrise, and pondering the amazing goodness of  Jesus. I prayed, "Holy Spirit what would you have me to learn today?" I opened my Bible and it's pages fell to Acts 17. I tried to read the entire chapter, but my eyes repeatedly stopped at verse 6. I have read this story many times but this time the Holy Spirit was opening my ears to hear what He was telling me! The story is this:

Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica. They were staying in the house of a man named Jason. Paul went to the synagogue for three weeks in a row to show the people the proof in the scripture that Jesus is the Messiah. "A great multitude" of the people believed in Jesus because of Paul's words. But there were some of the Jews who did not believe and they were jealous of Paul. They went to the marketplace and gathered together some bad men and created a mob. This mob went to Jason's house but Paul and Silas were not there. They took Jason to the "rulers of the people." THIS IS THE PART THAT I COULD NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF OF. They were crying out, "... THESE WHO HAVE TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN HAVE COME HERE TOO."