Joyfully Excited

Oftentimes, people do ask me: “How come, Joseph, unlike everybody else, you seem to be always happy and always excited?”  Some other people even push their gutsy boldness a little further to bluntly ask me:  “What kind of special drug are you on, Joseph, to keep you so excited, so decisive, so motivated, so joyful, so enthusiastic, and so energetic all the time? In these listed cases, and on all the other unlisted occasions, my reply to them is straightforward, plain and simple:  “The Power of Jesus Christ in me is the Motivating Factor of my Constant Joy”.  My answer to them has then become my daily mantra.  I go on to explain to them that, since I have Jesus Christ in my life, the Holy Spirit dwelling in me becomes the Generator of my Joy at all times, regardless of the moment, regardless of what I am facing, and regardless of what I am going through.  The Bible says in Acts1:8 that:  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”

Therefore, I remain confident, bold, anchored, full of faith, full of trust, and full of assurance in the LORD.  I do not see problems, or challenges.  I only see “New Opportunities” to confirm again and again that, in fact, Jesus Christ is The LORD Almighty.  With that in mind, my confidence and my faith grow constantly in Him.  He has never failed or lost a battle in my life.  He is always the Indisputable Winner, the All-Time Champion above the competition, i.e., the odds, the sins, the tricky situations, the entangling circumstances, and so on.  He is The Great I AM, The LORD Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient in my life.

Jesus Christ is, indeed, the God of Joy, the God of Happiness, the God of Excitement, the God of Motivation, the God of Passion, and the God of Peace.  He is the God of Compassion, the God of Forgiveness, the God of Beautification, the God of Elevation, the God of Second Chance, the God of New Life, and the God of New Beginning.  Jesus Christ is also the God of Resilience, the God of Boldness, the God of Resolve, the God of Determination, the God of Strong Heart, the God of Power, the God of Gutsy Confidence, and the God of Strong and Powerful Faith (Matthew 17:20/Full Context: Matthew 17:14-20), (Luke 17:6/Also Read: Luke 17:1-10). 

Do you have a battle, or something seemingly too big for you to handle?  Do you have a sickness or a condition that is tormenting you? Do you have some troubling circumstance that refuses to subside or to go away?  Are you struggling with some tricky situation, or with some powerful addiction that seems to overpower you all the time?  Then, take heart, hang in there, have faith in God, be strong, be patient and be courageous.  Jesus Christ is “The Answer” you have been seeking all along.  With Jesus Christ on your side, you are not alone anymore.  He is your own Strengthening Partner, your Constant Companion, your Greatest Confidant whom you can talk to at any time, in complete freedom, in total openness, in absolute trust, without any shame, without any embarrassment, without any reservation, and without any fear of being wrongly judged or criticized.  He is also your own Faith Booster and your own "Faithful" Power Supply.  Begin to Trust in the LORD, Commit Yourself fervently to prayer, Present your case adamantly to God with confidence and with expectations, and Let Him strengthen you while He deals with that which seems too big or too strong for you to handle, or to bear, or to control, or to master. 

For those of you who do not know how to pray “yet”, begin to use and to practice “The Lord’s Prayer”, that is the prayer model that Jesus taught His disciples (Matthew 6:9-13) and that is also posted on my previous blog entitled “Prayer: Our Duty, Our Mandate”.  It is powerful, it is effective.  Therefore, as you practice reading it and reciting it constantly, you will also learn to memorize it.  Next, since you may already own a Holy Bible, or since you may have downloaded a Holy Bible App, you now can also begin to read the Psalms of David that are also prayers that David wrote in many occasions and in his many personal circumstances in his life.  Encouragingly, if you are new to the field of prayer, in addition to the “Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13), the Psalms are also a vast example to learn from and to adopt in order to suit your own circumstances until you are able to pray freely, easily and more elaborately on your own by using your own words through the Leading and through the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Fortunately, if you have someone else (or a group of people) to pray with you, it is also very good.  Jesus said:  “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).  In Ecclesiastes 4:12, it is written: “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” We may therefore conclude that you, plus a prayer partner, plus Jesus Christ as the third Entity (or the third partner, or the third strand) with you when you pray, constitute together a very powerful team and a very dynamic combination.  However, if, due to the private nature of the moment (in your bedroom for example), or due to the personal singularity, or to the critical, the timely need, or to the impromptu urgency of the circumstance, you are just one and alone to pray, it is also fine as well.  Since God is omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time), you are never alone.  Jesus Christ is always with you through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is "The Definite Answer" to everything we are facing in life.  Jesus Christ is also the cause and the source of our joy, of our victory and of our celebration.  That is why I strongly recommend that you get quickly acquainted with Him, that you receive Him as your LORD and Savior in your lives as soon as possible, that you go to Church at your earliest (and mandatory) convenience where the Pastor, your Spiritual Leader, (or your Chaplain on-site and on location) will take you through the Salvation process, will teach you the basics and the fundamentals of the Bible and of the Gospel, will explain to you the endless and the priceless benefits for making your Great and Crucial Decision, and will arrange and proceed with your Water Baptism.

It is “A MUST” that you get water baptized to complete and to seal your Acceptance of the LORD Jesus Christ, to confirm and to consolidate the Salvation process that, in turn, gives you and grants you access to greater power, to higher confidence, to closer relationship, and to more intimate communion with the LORD.  Instead of being a Year-End's Resolution, or a New Year's Resolution, your Great Decision to Accept Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior, to Believe in Him and to Trust in Him, to Repent of your sins and to Be Water Baptized, shall be your Today Resolution and your Now Resolution.  It is imperative, and it is fully and absolutely recommended.  In Mark 16:16, the Bible says:  “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”.  That is why I, +Joseph Dubois, this writer of this blog, personally encourage you to begin the process right away, as soon as possible, and without any delay.  This is my urgent request, my best advice, my urgent and my utmost recommendation to you, “Beloved Blog Reader”.

In the meantime, “Rejoice in the LORD always” (Philippians 4:4) and as often as possible.  Cultivate and maintain your Growing Faith in Him, and know with firm assurance and with strong conviction that, in all our experiences, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).  “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26/Also Read: Matthew 19:16-30).  By Faith, your lives will take the positive, the fruitful, the purposeful and the intended turn as per “God’s plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).  God will also grant you Peace:  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).  Your Peace will then culminate to generate and to produce Joy, the kind of Lively Joy that causes us to be Joyfully Excited all the time, regardless of the seasons of our lives, regardless of the moment, and to the surprising amazement of many.

We are Joyfully Excited because of our God Jesus Christ who dwells in us, and because He is the Best and the Greatest Gift that we have ever received in our lives.  Jesus Christ is real.  That is why, we are confidently sharing Him with all so that all may also personally know Him in order to increasingly believe that He is, in fact, Joy, Life overflowing, the Light and the Savior of the world.  I urge you to trust in Jesus Christ, to open and to offer your hearts as His dwelling place, to accept Him and to embrace Him in your lives.

Furthermore, I can also guarantee you that your encounter, your knowledge and your experience in Him will be so overwhelming that you will be as Joyfully Excited as I am.  In return, your Great Joy and your Joyful Excitement will be so tangible, so convincing, so amazing and so cascading, that you will also be full of zeal and full of passion as I am right now.  As a result, you will begin to spread the Love of Jesus Christ, and to share your experience in Him with others passionately and diligently, as I am doing right now through this blog. 

To share that Great and Priceless Love, you will begin to create new opportunities, you will come up with new means, you will utilize either conventional and readily-available tools or new tools, you will employ new approach or new method, you will use your skills, your gifts and your talents.  You will also practice and exercise respectful manners, dignified ethics, and exemplary conduct, in full territorial respect, and within your available, your permissible and your respectable boundaries.  The dignified image of our LORD Jesus Christ here on Earth shall remain Divinely Respectable, and shall retain and maintain its Fully-Deserved Protocol.

Jesus Christ has been patiently waiting for you, "Dear Blog Reader".  Therefore, do not delay any longer.  Just Go For Your Divine Inheritance!  It Is Solely and One Hundred Percent (100%) Yours.  I encourage you to Receive and to Enjoy the Best Gift that is being offered to you, that is, the Free Gift of “Eternal Life” (John 3:16).  I know you will agree with me that this is the Very Best Decision you have ever made in your life.  I wish you All The Best.  

Rejoice!  Celebrate!  Enjoy!  And, Cheers!

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Special Notes:

1. This blog is also optimized for smartphone and for mobile device reading format and convenience.  Thanks to +Blogger.

2.    A beautiful song entitled "Just As I Am” by the 7-year-old Gospel singer @Rhema Marvanne may be found on her website at: www.rhemamarvanne.com. (Reference used with Granted Permission).

3.   The @YouVersion Bible App for mobile device is downloadable for free at:  www.youversion.com.  (This is our voluntary publicity to say “Thank You” for the free Bible App.)

4. "We are Going Boldly into the www (world wide web) and into the world in accordance with GOD’s LOVE for the World.”+Joseph Dubois.

Our Thanksgiving Testimonial

It is awesome to be blessed, to be loaded and to be enriched by God, to know it, and to behave in relation to our divine blessings.  The blessings of the LORD are innumerable, immeasurable, and should be upheld and treasured for their immense value and for their true worth.  As a reciprocating response and as an acknowledgement of the fact of being divinely blessed, we formulate and express our gratitude through Thanksgiving acts and gestures which may take multiple forms, i.e., praise, worship, prayer, service, missionary work, genuine offers, sincere acts of kindness, and the list goes on.  These acts and gestures of Thanksgiving may be either modest, simple or lavishing, according to our means, our abilities, and according to the prompting of our hearts.  It is always good and it is encouraged to add some deed or some substance to the word “Thank You” even if it means or takes the form of some unexpected public acknowledgement to some entity.

It is imperative to be thankful today, now, recurrently, and as often as possible.  The miracle worker, or the provider of a favor, of some great service, or of an act of kindness must know that we appreciate their skilled service, their benevolent and their generous acts of kindness towards us.  It is to them an encouragement as it is a motivation for them to continue to do good.  The Altruist, or the Philanthropist, or the Benefactor, or the Good Samaritan may not expect to receive anything in return from the recipient or from the beneficiary of their acts of kindness.  Nevertheless, it is absolutely proper, recommended and motivational for the recipient to say “Thank You” to those who do good to them and for them.

The Holy Bible abounds with instances of and with teachings about Thanksgiving.  For the purpose of this blog, we have chosen to list the following examples, instructions, promises and exhortations.

• “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.”  (Psalms 95:2-3).
• “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”  (Psalms 100:4-5).
• “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion , and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”  (2 Corinthians 9:11}.
• “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.”  (2 Thessalonians 1:3).

We are thankful and very grateful to God for All His Blessings, for All His Favors, for All His People, for All His Miracles, for All His Opportunities that He has placed in our lives.

We Thank God first and foremost for Jesus Christ:   Our Redemption and our Salvation from our sins have been made possible through Jesus Christ's death on the cross and through His resurrection from the grave.  It is sealed, and it is a done deal.  We still have our imperative responsibility to Accept By Faith His Free Gift Of Eternal Life being offered to us and to Embrace Him Fully as our LORD and Loving Savior in our lives and in our hearts.

We Thank God for our Great Country.  We specifically designate our Priceless, our Loving, our Magnificent, our Wonderful and our Beloved Canada:  This is our Place of Elevation, of our Higher and of our Greater Achievements.  This is our Land of Purpose and of our Refined Education.  This is our Divinely-Blessed Land, our Land of Great Wealth, our Land of Limitless Possibilities and of Endless Opportunities.  This is our Land of Explorations and of Great Discoveries, the Land of the Pioneers, of the Entrepreneurs and of the Developers, the Land of Great Innovations and of Great Inventions.  This is the Place of Dedicated, of Passionate and of Hard Workers.  Canada is our Land to Fight for, our Place to “Stand on Guard” for, our Peaceful Nation, the Land specially shaped, mindfully woven and meticulously molded by God’s Own Precious Hands.  We Thank God because we Greatly and Truly Love our Unique Country Canada for this is where God has placed us to be fruitful, to be prosperous, to flourish and to multiply.

We Thank God for our Church Senior Pastor / our Church Founder / our Church Builder.  On an extended and global scale, We Thank God also for all the Senior Pastors, all the Church Founders and all the Church Builders on the planet:  Their Contribution to Society is Monumental and Commendable.  Their Lifetime Legacy is their self-sacrificing Investment in our lives for generations and generations.  We Thank God for their Innate and Entrusted Mission, for their Magnificent Vision, for their Absolute Obedience to accept and to embrace their Calling, and to follow through.  May God abundantly, lavishly, overflowingly and overwhelmingly Bless Them.

We Thank God for our Productivity:  Since we do not have ownership of time, we prioritize, we utilize our time effectively to the fullest, and we maximize our opportunities for the diligent and immediate Glory of our LORD Jesus Christ in our individual and respective world of evolution, and in our specific sphere of influence.

We Thank God for our National Governance and for the Government Officials:  They Govern with poise, they Lay the solid foundations, they Build the political architecture and they Erect the structure of our Society for now and for generations to come while they Inspire our motivation, Shape our living and Mold our future.

We Thank God for the Peace Makers, the Peace Workers, the Agents of Peace:  They Protect our lives with Authority, with Full Responsibility and with Great Competence.  They Make our daily living Safe, Peaceful and Secure. We Highly Regard and Highly Respect Them.

We Thank God for our Life Defenders:  They Guard our coasts, they Control our borders, they Monitor and Patrol our airspace. They Guarantee our Territorial Sovereignty and our National Integrity. We Highly Honor Them.

We Thank God for Farmers:  God’s blessed produce and divine provisions through the hard work of their hands are granted and guaranteed.  We Highly Appreciate Them and we Really Love Them.

We Thank God for Teachers:  They Boost our self-esteem, they Equip us with the essential substance for life, and with the intellectual, the academic and the practical tools for better living.  They Provide the high-quality education that is required and needed for us to become valuable, stable, self-confident and Better Citizens. They Instill in us Self-Respect, Self-Discipline, Civic Dignity and National Pride.

We Thank God for our Medical System (Doctors, Nurses, Hospitals):  They provide readily and diligently their Medical Services for our good health and for our prompt healing when we need it and as it is urgently required.  Our Gratefulness towards them is Immeasurable.

We Thank God for our Workplace and for our Place of Employment:  Our Management Team is Scientifically Efficient, our Coworkers are Highly Productive, Proactive and On-The-Ball, our Work Environment is One Model of its Kind.

We Thank God for Great Friends and for Great Connections:  They uplift, they stimulate, they motivate, they educate, they encourage, they support, they boost our morale, they brighten our days and our lives.  They are Precious and Priceless.

We Thank God for Humility:  Humility is that Virtue that stimulates us and compels us to Pray, to genuinely seek God, to have Patience, to wait on God, to yield obediently to God’s Guidance, to act diligently on God’s Instructions and Commands, as per His Crucial Timing for His Greater Effectiveness and for His Utmost Results.

We Thank God for our Blog Readers: We Appreciate their time, we Treasure their visit, we Honor their sharing. We Praise their renewed encouragement, we Credit their faithful loyalty. We Applaud them, we Cheer them and We Thank Them for their interactive synergy, for their current, their continued and their subsequent visits, and for their repeat investments of time. They are our Blessed, our Golden, our Very Precious and our Very Special Connections.

We Thank God for His Divine Miracles:  He raises us from the pit to our Elevated Place of Power, of Authority, of Recovery, of Victory and of Honor.  He turns our ashes to Gold (i.e., we work hard, we study hard, we create, we innovate, we initiate, we develop "our own"; we persist, we Go for it; we patiently build and we painstakingly grow "our own"; we take charge of "our own lives", we take responsibility for our daily living; we choose, we decide on the positive outcome, and we engineer the fruitful output and our productivity).  He also turns our tears to Laughter, our mourning to Rejoicing, our losses to our Higher Achievements, our desolation to our Stronger Establishment.  He grants us Happiness, Success, Multiple Blessings and Prosperity.

We Thank God for our Determination and for our Passion:  We remain focused and we persevere through it all.  We emerge Powerful, Victorious, Prosperous and a Conqueror in spite of the odds (i.e., the challenges, the testings, the hardships, and so on), and because of the odds.

We Thank God for Google™:  Their Good-Samaritan Approach, their Free-Giving and their Free-Sharing Spirit towards our Society do speak volumes.

We Thank God for ALL that we have, and for ALL our Service Providers whose list would be too long to enumerate, to compilate, to elaborate and to populate (i.e., Barbers and Hair Stylists, Cleaners, Drivers, Couriers, Carriers, Merchants, and so on).  We truly appreciate ALL of Them.  Their Contribution to make our lives livable is Unforgettable.  Our Memories of Them are but Joyful and Noble.

We Thank God for Singers and Musicians:  They embed our lives, they fill our void, they keep us company through their songs and through their music.  They are “Mental Therapy Agents”.  They are part of our Joy, of our Rejoicing, and of our Celebration.  They are God’s Workers and God’s Messengers.  They are Beloved Sons and Beloved Daughters that have been created by our Heavenly Father, that are called to our Father's Conformity, and that are also called to participate and to take care of our Father's Business on Earth as it is in Heaven. They are Agents of Mediation, of Connectivity and of Reconciliation.  As per God’s Divine Touch, God's Divine Decision, and under God’s Divine Anointing, they Trigger, they Activate, they Uphold and they Carry in their writing, in their composition, in their singing and in their execution of their Music Masterpiece, the Glory of our LORD, Jesus Christ.

We Thank God Lavishly, Profusely, Abundantly and Endlessly for Who He Is:  He Is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, God Almighty, Our LORD Jesus Christ.

Some might say that they got paid to do their job and that we did not have to go to that extreme of publicly Thanking God for their services.  That is absolutely true, and that is also factually known and clearly understood.  Nevertheless, we find it very important and imperative in this time of Our Thanksgiving Celebration to express our Heartfelt Gratitude towards them anyway.  Life is not only about money, or about just the paycheck that we work for, or not only about the services rendered and provided.  Life is also about appreciation, warmth, being human, relationship, courtesy, good rapport, and about giving credit where credit is due.  Therefore, we have written this blog based on the sincere motivation of the latter facts and elements, and also based on the continued expression of our Love for our God and for our Neighbor.

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Special Notes:

1. This blog is also optimized for smartphone and for mobile device reading format and convenience.  Thanks to +Blogger.
2. A beautiful song entitled “I Thank God” (*1) by the 7-year-old Gospel singer @Rhema Marvanne may be found on her website at: www.rhemamarvanne.com. (Reference used with Granted Permission).  (Revision: From "Website", To "YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@RhemaMarvanne) (*1)
3. The @YouVersion Bible App for mobile device is downloadable for free at: www.youversion.com.  (This is our voluntary publicity to say "Thank You" for the  free Bible App.) (Revision / New URL:  https://www.bible.com/ ) (*1)
4. “We are Going Boldly into the www (world wide web) and into the world in accordance with GOD’s LOVE for the World.”  @JosephDubois1. (*1)

(*1) Revisions & Updates added on November 8, 2023.

New Beginning

It is finished, followed by a deep sigh of relief, is the releasing, the exhaling sign that something big and magnificent has just happened.  It is the fact of knowing that the end has arrived, that the deadline, the completion time has come to pass.  The foreseen milestone has been reached, the task is completed, the dreamed accomplishment has been achieved.  It is the same as saying “mission accomplished”.  It is final.  It is done.

“It is finished” were the final words pronounced by Jesus Christ on the cross at the end of His agony while He was about to fully commit His Spirit onto His Father in Heaven (John 19:30).  At that crucial moment, He was totally at peace with God the Father, He has accomplished His mission on Earth, His job was done, humanity may now rest assured about its salvation, His blood shed has sealed our redemption once and for all, a new era has just begun, the tormenting of humanity by Satan is under strict control, and Satan’s influence in our lives is restricted solely to our mere allowance and cooperation.  “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:36-39).

It is finished because, finally, the world is going to be amazed, to confirm, to acknowledge, to be convinced that Jesus Christ was truly the Sent One, that He was ALL that He said He was, including being God:  “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”  (John 14:6-14/Full Details).  The disciples full of anguish, full of sadness, full of fear, full of confusion, full of anger, have now begun to understand the significance of His teaching.  The words He spoke are being ruminated, brought back from memory, revised, assessed, weighed, dissected, appreciated, and treasured. Finally, everything has begun to make clearer sense.  What at first was puzzling, blurry, confusing, misunderstood, finally has life, crisp meaning, sharp clarity, meaningful purpose and understanding.

When Jesus said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2-4), He meant it dearly, and the disciples finally have begun to believe and to live with the hope of a better tomorrow with Him in Heaven.  They also hung on to the assurance given to them by Jesus who declared: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26).  All the promises He made while He was alive were making more sense and were having more value to the disciples after He died, after He is gone.

The cruel death of Jesus Christ on the cross was a terrible sight for the disciples to bear and a devastating experience that would mark them for life and forever.

Usually, upon the completion of an arduous task, we take a break, a recess, time out to wind down, to breathe a little, to regain our strength, and to replenish our energy.  In the case of Jesus’ disciples, it was time to regroup, to re-assess, to plan, to strategize.  Our Rabbi is dead, our Teacher is gone: we got to mobilize, we got to take action and to do something. 

  

When Jesus said “I will never leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18), He also truly meant it.  That is why, today, in our days, we can still hang on to His promise that is real because we also have the Holy Spirit to still be with us.  And this is a comforting assurance, an encouraging fact to know that we are not alone, that we are not forgotten, that we are protected, that we have the choice and the opportunity to follow Him and to  worship Him in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:24), that our faith in Him has the sustaining power to uphold us at all times, either while we are in the valley of our lives, or when all around us seems to be thick and opaque fog.  And yet, we are able to move forward by faith, with full assurance and in the absolute confidence that we will make it no matter what, just because of who He is who is with us.  He is Truth, His words are sure investments in our lives, and we can really count, trust and depend on them.

A paralyzed man named Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, lame in both feet, was having a normal day of his life in the village where he was living when he heard that king David sent looking for him.  This may have been a tremendous and a shocking news for him to process in his mind.  Nevertheless, he was surprisingly designated to go to the palace, to sit and to eat at the king’s table every day, to receive all the land that belonged to his grandfather Saul, and to have several servants to work for him and to take care of his affairs (2 Samuel 9/Whole Chapter).  All this favor came to his life suddenly, and he was fully restored to an elevated status by the amazing grace and by the mysterious plan of God.  What an overwhelming experience it may have been for him!

A lost son, upon returning home, was accepted royally by his jubilant father who gave a feast in his honor for his decision to come back home.  He was fully restored to his full son status in the family by his loving father.  His mistake and his folly against his father were totally forgiven by his father.  His rightful place in his home was kept preciously until his return and until his full reintegration.  This is also known as the prodigal son story (Luke 15:11-32).

Whoever you are, wherever you are, King Jesus has come looking for you and is inviting you to come to have fellowship with Him.  Your special place of honor is jealously reserved just for you and very specially for you and for you alone at the King’s table.  You are a VIP, a Very Special Guest with the full “Son / Daughter” status.  We are Royalty. We belong to a Royal Family.  We have to accept Jesus' invitation by faith, to yield accommodatingly to the power of the Holy Spirit, to cooperate with His leading and His guidance, and to let the rest take its full course, the rest being our redemption and our salvation.  We also have to renew and to shift our mind, and to change our thinking to a spiritual connotation in order for things to make better sense, to have a greater meaning, and in order to see and to accept things through their proper divine perspective.

As per the Parable of the Wandering Sheep in the Bible, a Shepherd would leave the ninety-nine sheep on the hills and would go looking for the “single one sheep” that wandered off.  When he finds it, he is happier about that one sheep than about the other ones that stayed and did not wander off (Matthew 18:12-14).

This is a heartfelt reminder to you, the reader of this current paragraph, that you are that “very special single sheep, that very special single person” that Jesus Christ came to Earth and died for so that through His death and His resurrection, you may live forever and have “everlasting life” (John 3:16).

This is the main goal of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He came down and died for every single one of us, and He wants to make sure that we all come home where we belong.  We are His, He is ours.  And we belong to the Great Family of God.  Church is the place where the believers of Jesus Christ come together to have fellowship, to be refueled, to be updated, to be mentored, to be uplifted, to be strengthened, to be taught for their spiritual growth.  Accepting Jesus Christ in your hearts by faith as your Redeemer and as your Savior is your starting point of your professed faith.

On the third day after His death, Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.  He has conquered the grave and has demonstrated that His Omnipotence is real and indisputable.  The work He came to do is now completed and is now sealed by His resurrection.  He then went to meet with the disciples, restored His disciples’ faith, gave His final instructions, empowered them to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20/The Great Commission).  In return, the disciples full of zeal, full of life, full of power, full of assurance, full of faith are overwhelmingly motivated to do the work of God and to perform as it was expected of them, and as it was mandated to them.  They were full of enthusiasm because they have seen the evidence of the piercing mark on His hands, of the piercing hole on His side.  They were full of devotion and they began to share and to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others without fear, without shame, without doubt, but with boldness, with passion and with conviction.

We also believe in Him, in the veracity and in the power of His resurrection.  That is why we have taken the solemn initiative to write this blog in order to share the Great Love of Jesus Christ with all our Readers, to seriously manifest and to prove our commitment to all of you, and to reassure our willingness to reach out to non-Christians, to those who are asking, seeking and knocking, and also to backsliders, those who, for whatever reason, wandered away from the faith, from their fellow believers and from their creed.

He has risen (Matthew 28:6, 7) and His Mission on Earth is accomplished.  As Jesus Christ’s Disciples, Our Mission towards you, our Fellow Humans, and towards you, our Blog Readers, has just begun.  This is a New Beginning.  All must know that Jesus said:  "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).  All must also know that Jesus Christ is LOVE.  He loves each and every one of us unconditionally without any discrimination, without any regards of geographical location, or of your actual faith position, or of your spiritual standing, or of your actual creed that you profess, and where you belong:  He Loves Us All.  He has opened His arms to accept you, to embrace you, to give you rest, to infuse you with His divine joy, to fill your hearts with contentment and with happiness.  Officially, we all belong to Him.  It is up to us now to make the switch, to move towards Him, to accept His Love.  Just come to God now as you are, all of you who are asking, seeking and knocking (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9,10), all of you who are weary and burdened (Matthew 11:28), all of you who are wandering away (Matthew 18:12-14), and wandering around, and all of you who are ready and willing to repent and to turn your life around (Luke 15:4-7).  Just come Home where you belong, and let a New Chapter of your life begin to unfold significantly to your surprising realization and to your joyful amazement.  It is a Guarantee.

We suggest that you look for a Home Church, and that you connect to your Church Pastor who will mentor you, guide you, teach you, water baptize you, and put you on a new path towards your divine and heavenly destiny.  We recommend that you go to a Church where the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are being preached, where the Word of God is the Fundamental, the Foundational and the Essential Teaching, where the Bible is the Final Authority, and also where Water Baptism by Immersion is administered. (Jesus Himself was water baptized by immersion by John the baptist; Matthew 3:13-17).  Your rewarding, enriching and uplifting journey as a New Christian has just begun.  Welcome Home! 

We wish you a Happy Easter and a Happy Rejoicing in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Special Notes:

1. This blog is also optimized for smartphone and for mobile device reading format and convenience.  Thanks to Blogger.
2. A wonderful rendition of “Amazing Grace” by the 7-year-old Gospel singer Rhema Marvanne may be found on her website at: www.rhemamarvanne.com. (Reference used with Granted Permission).
3. The YouVersion Bible App for mobile device is downloadable for free at: www.youversion.com.  (This is our voluntary publicity to say "Thank You" for the  free Bible App.)
4. “We are Going Boldly into the www (world wide web) and into the world in accordance with GOD’s LOVE for the World.” Joseph Dubois.

Our Best and Greatest Love

Love is the greatest power, the most powerful force that ever exists.  It drives our lives, it motivates our actions, it stimulates our passion, it shapes our thoughts, it molds our thinking, it directs our behavior, it justifies our reactions.  Love determines our sacrifices, it sustains our endurance, it sharpens our choices, it dictates outcomes, it maximizes our care, it conceives our plans, it enhances our planning.  Love always seeks to please, to protect, to defend, to nurture, to care, to court, to charm, to dream, to beautify, to attract, to preserve, to persevere, to cover, to educate, to uplift, to promote, to respect, to liberate, to elevate, to build up, to repair, to pull up, to push up, to publicize, to market, to exhibit, to advertise, to talk about, to exalt, to valorize, to brag about, to display, to show off.

The dictionary defines “Love” (noun) as “a strong positive emotion of regard; any object of warm affection or devotion; a beloved person; used as terms of endearment.  “To Love” (verb) is to have a great affection and liking for, to get pleasure from, to be enamored or in love with; …

The Bible (New International Version / NIV),  in 1 Corinthians13:4-7, lists some attributes and virtues of Love: “Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”

The best example and the greatest lesson of Love is given to us by God the Father Himself who, out of His unthinkable kind of Love for the world (the human race) (John 3:16), sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die in order to save us and to redeem us from eternal damnation.  His evident gesture of Love through the death of His Son has therefore eliminated His intended wrath against us in terms of His anger towards us after the first man, Adam, disobeyed Him and sinned against Him in the Garden of Eden.  His Great-Creator’s Love for us has compelled Him to offer His own Son as the utmost sacrifice to save us all from the consequences of the original sin (Genesis3/Whole Chapter).

We truly thank God for His unique compassion and for His unmatchable mercy.  Otherwise, none of us would ever escape or dream to make it to Heaven. It is written in 1 Peter 1:3:  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  And this is the greatest lesson of Love for us to study, to meditate upon, to learn from, and to practice on all occasions, at all times and towards all.

The topic of Love is the widest and the vastest subject that would take volumes upon volumes to develop.  For the purpose of this blog, we will focus, concentrate and remain within the context of what Jesus taught in Mark 12:30-31 that states: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these.”

To Love God is to obey Him, to respect Him, to revere Him, to veneer Him, to care for His people (our fellow humans).  To Love God is to do His will, to follow His instructions and to obey His commands.  In John 21:15, 16, Jesus instructed Peter saying (1) “Feed my lambs” and (2) “Take care of my sheep.”  In John 21:17, Jesus repeatedly asked Peter “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” 

To Love God is to diligently seek Him, to crave for and to create intimacy with Him, to be attentive to His voice, to be and to live in perfect synergy with Him through yielding to the Holy Spirit.  To Love God is to continuously watch ourselves not to anger Him, or to displease Him, or to offend Him, or to disrespect Him.  To Love God is to do our best to please Him with all our might.  As a result of our seriousness about loving Him, our lives become peaceful, productive, powerful, meaningful, prosperous and very successful.  We are then able to hear from Him, to walk and to behave in accordance with His expectations of us. We are mindful and we strive to avoid making mistakes although they are an integral part of living.  We initiate breakthroughs with God in mind. Great creations and great innovations come out of us because we are obedient, because we can hear from Him and follow through, and because He can trust us to carry out His plans for His world.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” - the things God has prepared for those who Love Him.”  To Love God is to worship Him, and Him Alone.  John 4:23 says:  “Yet a time is coming and has come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”  God is the Only One who is worthy of our worship and who deserves all our praise.  He is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. We have been created to praise Him, to worship Him, to veneer Him, to serve Him.

To Love our neighbor is to care for the well-being, for the strong standing, for the welfare and for the good living of others.  We are happy for their progress, their advancement, their achievement, their accomplishment, their success.  We contribute joyfully to their happiness and to their advancement as much as we can.  We avoid at all costs harming them, and we do whatever it takes to protect them.  As a specific example that is generic and innate to their very nature, their commitment, their determination and their responsibility, a Firefighter would do and risk anything to rescue and to save a single life from a burning flame. And this is the kind of eloquent example among others that take place every day, that we take “routinely” for granted, and yet, this is exactly what God means when He says to “Love your neighbor like yourself”.  The Firefighter is a Professional who is educated and trained to perform and to fulfill their duty that is deeply rooted in altruism.  However, their mindset of willingness, of single-mindedness, of high personal (and work) ethics, of dedication, and of great sacrifice is what we have to learn from, to practice, to emulate and to apply towards our neighbor.  A great biblical example of one's love for a neighbor is found in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37.

Our Love for our neighbor compels us to continuously strive to reach out to others and is the reason for our previous blog entitled: “Pioneer, Hang In There! Our Reaching-Out Endeavor.”

To Love ourselves is, first and foremost, to establish and to maintain a strong connection and a strong bond with God.  God must become the center of our lives, our life sustainer, our life support, our main source of wisdom and guidance, our primary source of education, our Leader, our Lord, our King, our first confidant, our omniscient partner, our shelter and our safety nest in the storms, our shield in the midst of danger, our cane or our crutch to lean on, our Advocate with our Father in Heaven, and our Protector against the Evil one.  “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One”. (1 John 2:1).

To Love ourselves is to know ourselves, to take the time to examine, to assess ourselves, to have the courage to fix our own “detected” flaws, to tackle our weaknesses, to acknowledge, to address and to resolve our mistakes, to deal honestly with our issues instead of pretending, playing make-believe or sugarcoating, to apologize on due times and to set an example for others, to make peace with ourselves, to forgive ourselves, to rid ourselves of guilt and to be at peace within ourselves.

To Love ourselves is to treat ourselves very preciously, to make time for ourselves, to take time off with ourselves, to care for our health, to dream and to take the practical steps to make those dreams come true, to be mindful and determined about our present, to be serious and decisive about our future.

To Love ourselves is to have and to cultivate a High Self-Esteem, to create our joy and our “own version” of personal happiness.  To Love ourselves is to know and to convince ourselves that we are The BEST, that we have The BEST, that we want The BEST, that we deserve The BEST, that we offer and give The BEST, and that we would do Our Very BEST to make and to cause The BEST to come into and to happen in our lives.  To Love ourselves is to decide not to settle for the “readily convenient” and the “easily available” that might end up in unpleasant results, in displeasing outcome and in regrettable consequences.  Instead, we choose, we adopt, we select and we embrace The BEST, the essential, the uplifting, the compatible and the suitable.  Since we are Very Precious and Very Special, we set our dream(s) and our goal(s) very high, and we do Our BEST to achieve them, to make them happened and become a reality.  The LORD always reserves and always gives His BEST to us, His beloved people.  In return, we preserve ourselves “sacrificially” to please Him because He deserves our pure, our wholehearted and our absolute BEST.

To Love ourselves is to think BIG, to dream BIG and BEAUTIFUL, and to know that, in all and after all, the sky is the limit.  God is Our BIG CREATOR and Our BIG FATHER.  We are His Beloved Sons and His Beloved Daughters.  Therefore, it is simply normal to think BIG and to dream BIG like Our FATHER in Heaven.  Those with a little mind and those of “little faith” (Matthew 17:20/Full Context, Verses 14-20) might call it “megalomania” meaning, “a psychological state characterized by delusions of grandeur”.  However, by looking all around us and beyond, we can realize that everything that we are using on a daily basis, i.e., car, bus, truck, train, subway, airplane, ship, telephone, radio, television, fridge, stove, elevator, computer, laptop, cellular phone, internet, and other great products and great achievements, have all been invented, created and attained by people who have a great vision, a great passion, a great self-confidence and a strong faith to try hard, to work hard, and to think BIG.  Therefore, we are not going to remain passive, or to justify our inactivity and our limitations, or to stay on the sideline like spectators filled with self-imposed impotence, or like quitters deprived of firm willingness and persistence.  That is why we have made up our mind, and we are determined "to renew our mind" (Romans 12:2), to emulate and to join willfully (and "passionately") the ranks of the Great Minds, of the Big Thinkers, of the Great Builders and of the Great Achievers.  Jabez cried out to the God of Israel and asked Him “Enlarge my territory! …”  And God granted his request. (1 Chronicles 4:9,10).  By faith, all things are possible when we Love ourselves, when we trust God, when we believe and Love God, and when we are willing to act constructively and ready to move forward.

Although I do not have too many of them “yet”,  I Love electronic gadgets/tools for their usefulness, their convenient practicality, the inventive concept behind the innovation, and for my own experiment, exploration and comparison purposes (that is the quality assurance part of me).  Now, God has blessed me, has satisfied my Love for computers and for those gadgets/tools, and has given me the ability and the opportunity to write blogs about Him, which are also optimized for and readable on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).  Therefore, I am surely happy to see the result of my obedience to Him, to achieve and to fulfill that great dream, and to reach that great “encompassing” goal.  In this very specific case, the dream was "to share the Love of Jesus Christ with others, and to spread that Great Love to as many people as possible"; the goal was "to take the effective steps to make it happened".  Our "Many Thanks" go to Google™: they have created and provided for free "the ideal platform" to combine the dream and the goal, and to tie them altogether.  Again, may God richly bless Google™. 

I Love to listen to great music and I Love to play music. I also Love music videos and big theater movies that are the fabulous combination of big screen film coupled with majestic and immersive sound.  My very first job in life, in my very younger age, was at a select and very classy theater where I have seen a lot of great Jazz, musical, classical/ballet performances.  I have also seen a lot of great movies in my life. Now to have my own YouTube™ Channel where everything is combined and encapsulated into one media center as my hobby and my favorite pastime, and also where the sky is the limit of the possibilities, makes me very happy.

In other words, as we stay closer to God, Jesus Christ, He gives us ideas about what to do and where to go.  In return, we faithfully obey Him, we follow His instructions that are very “specific to ourselves personally and individually”.  We then design, tailor and "Create Our World" based on our personal dreams, and based on what God has deposited inside of us for our Joy, for our Happiness, for our own Success, and as per His Divine Plan to prosper us "individually" (Jeremiah 29:11) for His Divine Glory.  And this is just one example (or one story) out of many others that are kept wrapped up and untold.

To Love ourselves is to develop self-confidence, to study, to push the barriers of our identified limitations as far as possible, to educate ourselves as much as possible, not only to have an institutional and academic education as our profession and as our trade, but also to be knowledgeable in the things of God.  Therefore, we must study, make the time to read our Bible, and do research about the Word of God.  We must take the time to ponder and to meditate on what we read, on what we study, on what we discover, on what has been revealed to us, and on what God means to us.  We must appreciate the value and we must treasure the necessity and the fact of having God in our lives so that we may know by faith that we have a strong anchor when challenges, trials, storms and testing come upon our lives. 

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17).  The faith that we develop when we Love God, when we study the Word of God, when we read insightfully the Word of God (the Bible), and when we are connected to God, will carry us through those unwanted moments and will make us victors and not victims, conquerors and not oppressed, champions and not losers, achievers and not victimized, the head and not the tail, rich and not poor, the top and not the bottom, resourceful and not dependent.  Because of our faith in God, the fruit of our hands shall be life, our products and our produce shall be plentiful and ready to be harvested at all times. We are then able and ready to share, to give, to help others in short-term need, to alleviate the burdens of others, to guide and to equip others for long-term self-sustainability. 

When we Love ourselves that much and apply the same wealth, the same depth, the same size, the same magnitude, the same passion of our Love of ourselves towards loving others (“Love your neighbor as yourself”), God will be very pleased and very happy with us, and His dreams and His plans for humanity through us, being His chosen ones, His hands extended, His equipped ones, His trusted ones and His empowered ones, will then be fulfilled.

On a flipped side and on a careful note, we must be aware that this Love for ourselves is not a “Narcissistic Love of ourselves”, meaning self-admiration, self-adoration, or even self-idolatry.  Narcissus, in the Greek Mythology, was that man renowned for his great beauty who fell in love with his own image that he admired when he discovered and saw the refection of his own face in the waters of a pool.  He did not realize that the image that he saw was the reflection of his own face.

To Love ourselves is to have a realistic and a practical type of Love for ourselves where we do what it takes to assure self-dependency, auto-sufficiency, self-sustainability, “amphibian, all-terrain and all-weather” type of living where we are equipped, ready to live, to face challenges and to survive under all life conditions, either good or adverse.  Because of the self-empowerment that comes from being educated, equipped, a go-getter, and from having an entrepreneurial spirit and a propulsive determination, we are able and capable to "bounce back higher" by faith and with confidence regardless of our setbacks.

As we Love ourselves so much, and after we Love ourselves that much, will we "then" be able to manifest our altruistic love and our philanthropic kindness "unselfishly" towards others, and towards those in need of our help.  Our hearts will be compelled to answer the call and to respond to the cry of the destitute and the desperate ones.  We will not turn our heads the other way, nor will we plug our ears, direct our eyes on the opposite side to avoid seeing, taking, accepting and acting on our responsibilities, and to default from doing our part and from offering our share of help.

Out of Love, great affection and compassion for others, I, the writer of this blog, also had the honor of going to India after the Tsunami, to South Africa and to Jamaica with a dynamic team led by our Senior Pastor.  Life as a Missionary (either full-time, or part-time, or seasonal), and as a Caring Helper, is absolutely a very rewarding experience.  After the catastrophic flood of Gonaïves, in Haïti, I had the privilege and the opportunity to send a large shipment of goods and items to help those in need.   After the last earthquake, I have also contributed financially. Special Thanks go to my nucleus of friends and to my very close supporters who have also contributed.  As a serious worker and as an active seeker, I am looking forward to offer more help and contribution in the near future.  This is not bragging or making publicity for oneself. This is giving a succinct account, a brief highlight, and proving that, to the best of our abilities and regardless of our “limited” capabilities, we are practicing what we are talking about.

We thank God for His matchless Love for us.  We thank God for teaching us, for training us and for showing us examples about how to Love. We are a work in progress and we hope someday to fully meet all the requirements as per God’s standards and expectations.  Until then, we are seriously learning and practicing as we go.  Our goal is to hit the mark as we pursue our desire to Love God, to Love others and to Love ourselves more and more daily.   
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Special Notes:

1. This blog is also optimized for smartphone and for mobile device reading format and convenience.  Thanks to Blogger.
2. A beautiful song entitled “I Love The Lord” by the 7-year-old Gospel singer Rhema Marvanne may be found on her YouTube™ Channel. (Reference used with Granted Permission).
3. The YouVersion Bible App for mobile device is downloadable for free at: www.youversion.com.  (This is our voluntary publicity to say "Thank You" for the  free Bible App.)
4. “We are Going Boldly into the www (world wide web) and into the world in accordance with GOD’s LOVE for the World.” Joseph Dubois.