God bless!

                We all at one point or another have trained for something, whether it was a job, a sport, to lose weight, to court someone , etc. The purpose of all this training was to avoid the pain of failure or the effect of social rejection, though we prepare to avoid failure during this training we grow a layer of "skin" in that area that allows us to gain strength and focus. This is very important to understand because if we train and grow no resistance, what good is the training? If we prepare and see no results or fruits, what was the purpose of it all? If we diet and gain weight, what are we doing? Our training and consecration is for the day we see ourselves confronted and many of us do good except during the struggle, why?

                Our skin hasn't developed because we are spoiled, doing things half way and expecting a full result. Many of us are on spiritual welfare and we are satisfied with that, that place is exactly where the devil wants us. A place of complacency and satisfaction where God does not abide! Today is a day of doing a spiritual gut check, are we growing? If not, WHY? Are we in relationship with Him or do we just see Him occasionally on our terms? No relationship lasts if it isn't nourished, this includes our relationship with God....

Checking my growth, Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 24:10 "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

God bless!

                A couple of years ago we all had the great experience of feeling the effects of the economic boom. It was fun times for all of us as we raked in the dough on the castles that this society was building for us in the sky. Remember? As great as those times were I'm sure the good is very hard to remember as we all awoke one day to the hard reality that it was over. It was like a relationship going from "In love" to "Nothing" from one night to the morning. Why am I talking about this today?

                During this time and the transition that occurred there are a group of people that retain a smile on their face and these were the people who held the concept that Joseph held in the times of famine which was to keep the overage in the store house. Today these same people are taking full advantage of the patience and faith they relied on during the good times. It wasn't that they knew that something was going to happen, but they refrained from making the "emotional" purchase that most of us made. That's life! Now it's time for us to move on, the verse today speaks of how we have to respect the increase by gathering slowly but securely. I relate this many times to the parable of the seed and how the seed that fell in the wrong place was choked even though it had a great initial start in growth. We all make mistakes and this is part of life but what we take away from the mistake is what allows us to grow and not make them again. Today I encourage you as I do myself to get off the quick buck mindset and understand that anything that produces fruit will involve labor. What comes easy also leaves easy.

Evaluating my efforts, Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 13:11 "Wealth [not earned but] won in haste  or  unjustly  or  from the production of things for vain  or  detrimental use [such riches] will dwindle away, but he who gathers little by little will increase [his riches]."

God bless!

                Do you remember when you were a kid how you got in trouble for things that sometimes you weren't the main culprit in? Guilty by association is basically what I'm talking about. It stinks that those things happened but today as an adult I can understand it, why did we associate with people that we know straight out weren't causing our lives to grow but rather fall apart? Today most of us can make a clear decision to not associate with people that cause us harm, right? If your answer was no you are probably the most honest person on this string of emails, it's not that we do it purposely (at least not all of us) but we do it none the less. Too many of us allow too many people speak into our lives, our decisions and our families and unfortunately in many occasions this cause great damage.

                The verse today has everything to do with this issue, we have to stop giving heed to the evildoers and we have to stop listening to the mischievous tongue, when we do we will notice how a great deal of issues and weights are alleviated. I know many may be saying "but their my friends", I'll ask you: Are they really your friends? isn't a friend defined by their actions of bettering your life or situation? I think we have to make a real examination of those we are speaking to and allowing to speak into us....

Evaluating relationships and checking myself!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 17:4 "An evildoer gives heed to wicked lips; and a liar listens to a mischievous tongue. "

God bless!

                Isn't it interesting how this verse talks about a righteous man falling, if he is righteous then why is he falling? Many people don't truly understand what Grace is, Grace allows us to get up after we fall and retain the name of Righteous. It doesn't make sense to humanity but neither does the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us. Why would someone die for those that killed Him? Why would someone pay the tab for someone who robbed Him? If we can explain these examples then we will be able to explain the fact that we are viewed as righteous despite our failures. Why am I talking about this today? It's actually quite simple: lets thank God for Jesus and the fact that because of Him though we may fall we are viewed as being righteous! 

Thanking God!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 24:16 "For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity."

God bless!

                Has anyone ever tried to convince you to doing the wrong thing even after they knew that it was the wrong thing. I'm not talking about bad advice from a friend who cares in error but rather straight out wrong, anti-biblical, "I want to do what my flesh wants" type of advice. It happens all the time and the funny thing is that it usually comes from the vessels you don't expect it to come from. The point today is simply that a fool will try to convince you and I not to do the right things or they will try to push us towards doing the wrong things because they simply don't know any better. Making right for our wrongs is one of the most admirable traits known to man but to take it a step further making right for what we didn't do wrong is even greater (Selah). I know it's not easy to apologize or to fix the things that are broken but at the end of the day that is our call...

Contemplating the Truth

Pastor Joell

Proverbs 14:9 "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright."

¡Que Dios Te Bendiga!

¿Alguna vez te ha pasado que alguien trate de convencerte de hacer algo incorrecto aún sabiendo que lo que te están pidiendo esta mal hecho? No me refiero a cuando alguien te da un consejo queriendo lo mejor para ti y las cosas no salen como pensabas; me refiero a las cosas que "NO" debemos hacer porque están mal antes los ojos de Dios y aún de los hombres. Todas esas cosas que la Biblia nos dice "no" hacer pero nuestra naturaleza humana nos dice que "si", esos consejos que tu bien sabes están mal. Tristemente esto sucede todo el tiempo y lo peor del caso es que muchas veces, las personas que te dan esos malos consejos son aquellos de quienes jamás debería salir esa clase de consejos, porque ellos bien saben lo malo que es lo que te están aconsejando. El punto de hoy es simplemente el que recuerdes que los necios trataran de convencerte tanto a ti, como a mi, el que no hay necesidad de hacer lo correcto; trataran de aconsejarnos cosas erróneas porque no saben el daño que eso hace. El corregir nuestro errores es una de las más valiosas cualidades que podemos poseer como humanos, pero mas grande aún, es escoger hacer lo correcto aún sabiendo que lo incorrecto es mas fácil y esta a nuestro alcance (Selah). Estoy consiente de lo difícil que es pedir disculpas o tratar de arreglar algo que esta dañado, pero al final del día debemos recordar que eso exactamente es nuestro llamado.

Contemplando la Realidad,

Pastor Joell

Proverbios 14:9 "Los necios se burlan de sus culpas, pero entre los hombres honrados hay buena voluntad."

God bless!

                Have you ever found yourself trying to explain something to a person that didn't seem to grasp the concept? I'm not saying they weren't grasping it because of lack of knowledge but rather because they didn't care to understand it. At times when I find myself in this place I ask myself "who is the fool here?" Is it me for trying or the individual for not trying to listen and understand.... I'm still debating this one (lol). The point of this small devotional today is that we have to stop wasting our time trying to explain greatness to people who are not interested or simply don't want to capture the Truth. We have to learn to invest our time wisely and to try to convince a rock to move is many times fruitless. Evaluate your time, efforts and lets start respecting our value enough not to waste it on people who aren't interested!

ouch.... Time to trim the friends list (again) Pastor Joell

Proverbs 16:22 "U

nderstanding is a wellspring of life to those who have it, but to give instruction to fools is folly".

God bless!

                Have you ever found yourself trying to explain something to a person that didn't seem to grasp the concept? I'm not saying they weren't grasping it because of lack of knowledge but rather because they didn't care to understand it. At times when I find myself in this place I ask myself "who is the fool here?" Is it me for trying or the individual for not trying to listen and understand.... I'm still debating this one (lol). The point of this small devotional today is that we have to stop wasting our time trying to explain greatness to people who are not interested or simply don't want to capture the Truth. We have to learn to invest our time wisely and to try to convince a rock to move is many times fruitless. Evaluate your time, efforts and lets start respecting our value enough not to waste it on people who aren't interested!

 Analizing my friends list (again) Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 16:22 "Understanding is a wellspring of life to those who have it, but to give instruction to fools is folly."

Sent from my iPad

God bless!

                Isn't it interesting how gossip can quickly destroy the reputation of a person or group? When gossip infiltrates any relationship or kinship it tends to do one very big thing, the thing I am mentioning is "Erasing". What do I mean by erasing? It's actually quite simple, have you ever noticed how the moment we hear something negative about someone we automatically forget any good they ever did for us? They could have given us a million dollars but if they drank a Soda from our fridge it was all over. I'm obviously making an extreme example here but I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to say. When gossip is spread it takes no Prisoners, it doesn't ask questions to clarify it Simply makes determinations and forms images in our head of the people. Do you know how many people will judge you for the one thing you didn't do and they quickly forget the hundred things you did do for them. I can only say GROW UP! When we do grow up and act maturely all of a sudden we begin to take the extra time to discuss issues and we begin to evaluate the problem or lack and compare it to the benefits associated with the person they relate to.

                The verse today is simply trying to lead us to a place where we don't allow gossip to lead us but rather we take control of every situation and hear things out from all the involved parties. I'm pretty sure none of us like that moment when we discover we have made a mistake in judgment. Remember one thing about gossip that is very interesting: Gossipers are sharing with you information for the sole purpose of aligning you with their point of view, they don't seek a remedy to the issue they seek simply to convince you that the other party is wrong, awful or simply untrustworthy. In other words they are trying to manipulate you! Let's start hearing the facts and evaluating our sources....

Speaking with Passion!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 18:13 "He who answers a matter before he hears the facts--it is folly and shame to him

!Que Dios Te Bendiga!

Algo que siempre he encontrado interesante es como el chisme puede destruir en su totalidad la reputación de una persona o un grupo de personas. Cuando el chisme llega a infiltrase de una manera u otra en una relación, hace un daño muy específico el cual yo llamo "Borrador". Se estarán preguntando a que me refiero con lo del "borrador". En realidad es algo bien simple de comprender. ¿Has notado alguna vez que al instante que escuchamos algo negativo sobre alguien, de inmediato olvidamos todo lo bueno que esa persona ha hecho por nosotros? Puede ser que esa persona nos haya regalado un millón de dólares en el pasado, pero si nos enteramos que cogieron un refresco de nuestra nevera sin preguntarnos, olvidamos todo lo bueno en un instante. Es obvio que estoy usando un ejemplo bien exagerado, pero estoy seguro que entienden lo que trato de explicarles hoy. El chisme de por si no le gusta la interrogación; casi nunca hace preguntas para clarificar lo que se esta diciendo y lo más común, es que simplemente elabora imagines y nuevas opiniones en nuestra mente y corazón sobre los individuos que trata de destruir. ¿Tienes idea de cuantas personas te juzgarían por una sola cosa que no hayas hecho bien, mientras en un solo instante borran de sus mentes todo lo bueno que ya hiciste por ellos? ¡Lo único que les puedo decir, es que por favor MADUREN! Cuando al fin decidimos madurar y actuar como tal, entonces comenzamos a cuestionar y comunicarnos correctamente, tratando siempre de aclarar cada situación. Cuando maduramos, es entonces cuando evaluamos detenidamente cada problema y analizamos cada beneficio o perjuicio que "el chisme" puede causar. Entonces también logramos entender con claridad como es que afecta a las personas que se ven envueltas en esta situación. 

 El versículo de hoy simplemente trata de guiarnos a un lugar donde ya no permitimos que el chisme nos maneje o nos controle sino que por lo contrario, nosotros tomamos control de cada situación y escogemos escuchar y analizar bien la situación. Estoy seguro que a ninguno de nosotros nos agrada la incomodidad que se siente cuando llegamos a descubrir que desafortunadamente hemos juzgado erróneamente a alguien. Siempre recuerda una característica muy específica relacionada con el chisme: los chismosos solo comparten contigo lo que a ellos les conviene para lograr alinearte a su punto de vista; los chismosos nunca buscan aliviar el problema o buscarle solución, simplemente quieren convencerte que son ellos los que tienen la razón y que los demás son unos monstruosos de los cuales no se puede confiar. En otras palabras, ¡los chismosos tratan de manipularte! Comencemos a evaluar quienes son nuestras fuentes de información y escuchemos bien que es lo que nos dicen.

¡Hablandc con pasión!

Pastor Joell A. Perez

 Proverbios 18:13 "El que responde antes de escuchar, cosecha necedad y vergüenza."

God bless!

                As much as it bothers most of us to work, it is a necessary function in the life of all humanity. Many people over the years have tried to find "easy fixes" to achieve a level of prosperity but without the efforts that come along with working. As much as this prospect sounds great it is unrealistic. Even quick money schemes involve work and effort, most people don't realize it but behind everything there is an effort involved to produce. So why is this important today? Scripture shows us in today's verse that it is necessary for us to Till our land if we desire to be pleased. We have to work because if we don't we are simply chasing a worthless pursuit. I know most of us don't want to hear this (trust me I don't!) but it lacks sense and understanding to assume we will become prosperous simply because we are children of God or we think we are smart, good looking, etc. We have to invest our hearts into whatever it is we choose to do. The question today is are we up for it or will we continue chasing dreams? 

Proverbs 12:11 "He who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits is lacking in sense  and  is without understanding."

God bless!

                So many people will read the verse from today and immediately jump to the conclusion that this only applies to married women but though it does today I want to talk about us (The Body) as a Wife. For those who don't know the corporate body of the church was formed by God to make the Wife of the Son (Jesus). Now why is this relevant? As the wife in preparation for the husband we have to take the verse below to heart and ask ourselves are we the worthy wife or the shameful one? Before we start to feel guilty we must all remember that we all fail. Though we do fail we must also remember that this fact should not be a motivating fact to remain in failure but rather it should drive us to change and convert if we need to. Today I encourage each of us to allow God to form us into the True worthy wife we were designed to be. We can do it!

Thanking God for forgiveness, Pastor Joell A. Perez

Proverbs 12:4 "A virtuous  and  worthy wife is a crowning joy to her husband, but she who makes him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones."