Finding the right master in our lives is what we are here for in this world. When we were born, we thought we own the whole world. We thought naively that there were no wars, no confusion and no master of good and evil. But that changed everything when we come to understand that in this world we are just a passing pilgrim. We do not own everything or anything at all; we are just stewards in the earth. Whether you follow your vain conceit and live the days thinking you own the world, that there is no God, it is up to you. Others have done that before. They thought there is no God and they denied even His evidence in nature as a result they became foolish.

“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.

Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:18-20)

Others live their lives living to be vessels of darkness, determined to bring as much evil and terror as they could to their fellow humans. They participate in rituals of satanic origin and do his biddings every now and then, but the best and most authentic life we can ever have is to be friends and servants of the Most High God while we pass this earth. When I was in High School we were asked to read some poems, I remember that apart from reading the Tree by Joyce Kilmer, I like most the poem I shall not pass this way again. During that time, I did remember wondering what he really means by that. Will he die and not pass this way again? Or if he does die, why did he say in a provocative manner? Then when I was reading my Bible as a new babe in Christ, I found this to be the answer,

"Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul." (1 Peter 2:11)

"All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13)

Pilgrims on earth do not load every donkey they can find with food and water. They are careful to carry only the necessities they need on their journey. When we were hiking to Mt Pulag with my friends, I have to bring only one mountain bag and the other supplies necessary for three days journey. From the base camp, we did not bring any big bag to the top because we will not be camping for any length of time at the top of the mountain. We only plan to have a good view that morning and then go back to the base camp again. In a similar fashion, God does not want us to be burdened with unnecessary bags and weights which we do not really need.

Some people keep on carrying the weight of their past and their sins altogether until such time that it becomes a sickness in the heart. The stress of living is already a big problem to many and when you add the weight of daily offenses, it can turn to a mountain of bitterness that we did not even imagine. The yokes Jesus spoke of is peace for our souls but the burden and stress coming from sins lurking inside our hearts only produces difficulties and distresses we have never thought about. Jesus calls us to exchange them for His peace and light.

God’s peace and God’s presence

There is certainly a great difference from attending church and reading your Bible to being born again. I could say that I was raised up in a Protestant church although my mother had me baptized as a Catholic when I was an infant. I went to both churches when I was young but more frequently to the Protestant church when I was an older kid. I have my playmates there and my father often goes there every Sunday. I do not understand why but when I do not attend church services I feel sick and my day feels bad. I tried reading the Bible when I was in High School but it sounds brass to me. I could not feel anything within it especially the Old Testament. When I tried reading the parables of Jesus, I think I got the most from them. Only when I was in college already and when I got born again that I felt there was truly a great difference between reading the Bible then and reading now. I wondered why. Then after sometime, I read a book. It told me that the Bible was God’s love letter to those who were His children, and it was meant only for them. Indeed this was harsh, I thought was not the Bible for man? But as I ponder his statements, it dawned on me that the Bible was indeed the love letter of God to him who has fully given his heart to Him. Most of the misunderstandings and misinterpretations that arise from the Word are from those who have read and interpreted His Word out of context and out of self seeking, devoid of love. There are many who think that because they are scholars, they know more and even everything the Bible tells.

This people we must avoid, for man will not be measured by knowledge alone but by how much they have loved. Truth can kill if we do not apply correctly. Hitler was partially right to tell the Germans that their nation can be great again, but he was wrong to take it upon himself that this greatness means to exact a toll on others; particularly to send the Jews and Gypsies to the ovens. Not to go far, there could be no animal more feared than sharks. They can kill and maim anybody but sharks do not attack people unless provoked or hungry. Most often, they can mistake a swimming body to that of a swimming seal. This misunderstanding caused us to have almost depleted all sharks in the ocean. In the same way when truth is not applied correctly and carefully, it can bring about heresy. We must however read the Bible with a prepared heart, to read seeking the will of God. Jesus said that if we are seeking the Lord’s will, He will make things clear for us so we can understand the things that are from God and those which are not from Him,

"If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself." (John 7:17)

God’s presence comes to us and in us when we ask Him to dwell in our hearts. How do we do that? One must be born again to know and understand that his salvation does not lie in his own power. We do not need to go back again to our mother’s womb but in a similar way, we get a rebirthing of our spirits in the image of God. This is called the new man. God makes all things new to us (I Corinthians 5:17). When someone gets born again, he will feel and understand the presence of God. Jesus told Nicodemus that except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). When Nicodemus ask how can a man enter into her mother’s womb again, Jesus flatly said that he must be born of the water and the Spirit. To be born of water and the Spirit is an expression which Jesus meant that this is not the work of the flesh. One does not need to go back inside the womb of their mothers to be born again, but this is as Jesus corrected him, the work of the Word and the Holy Spirit which regenerates the man. The water represents the cleansing of man from his sins. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul writes how the Word works like a water to cleanse us. Even so, this is the Breathe of the Holy Spirit Who works like a wind, regenerating men and women even those we do not expect to be born again. God directs His power to whom He wills. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord I did not see any fire coming down from heaven, or cloud that followed me afterwards. But of this I am sure, that when I received Him as such, I was never the same again. His presence can be like a wind but one that we do not need to always understand or always have to know it.

God’s presence is His indwelling Spirit in the believer when one gets born again. This is the act of making peace with God. It is only when we are convicted that we are sinful and we do wrong no matter how much good we try to do that we are driven to the cross of Jesus. Man repents by reason of understanding of how sinful he is and how good the Lord is in forgiving us. We have debts to pay yet He took them all away and paid them one by one by virtue of His death on the cross. This is why the cross is central to Christianity, without the cross of Jesus, our religion is a religion of the good man. We will be all trying to be good and living for the Law like the Jews do. But because He came and saved us, we are all brand new.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 KJV)

Mental Stability

Unforgiveness can easily distract us from our daily walk with God. It becomes a wedge that is hard to remove when we try to retain the sins of others in our hearts. The main thing we need to understand is that when we get born again, we are forgiven of our debts. Likewise God expects us to forgive the debts of other even no matter how much they owe us. This is part of growing in the image of God, in His character.

There is no fruit of the Holy Spirit which is called bitterness or resentment and this is foreign to God. When one has given himself to the pursuit of God, one has literally sold himself to Jesus. He becomes the Master of our life, so we obey Him and not the dictates of our emotions or heartaches. When we learn to line up the desires of our hearts and minds according to the Scriptures, we will not be prone to evil doctrines and false merchandise of the devil. Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me” (John 14:23-24).

I think that this maybe one of the best promises God gave us for keeping His words and commandments, if we do it, we will find Him abiding with us. When Jesus walked the earth, He said this statement which each one of us must answer, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has not where to lay His Head (Matthew 8:20). When the Lord makes us His home, we will find peace even in the midst of trials, we will see miracles and healings in our services and we will bring Him glory with great harvest of disciples and our worship will not be a superficial religious service of formalities. We will sing to the top of our voices and we will be glad we came to seek His face. “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock” (Isaiah 26:3-4).

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

A life without the peace of God is characterized by riotous living. It is one full of loose behavior and instability. People who wander away from the path of truth will find themselves at the door of the anti-Christ. When we think of the anti-Christ many thinks of the coming world dictator who would have himself worshipped. But even before that comes, men who will fall before him have already worshipped him many times by their living. Anything contrary to the ways of Jesus is the ways of the anti-Christ. Thus John the beloved wrote, “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world" (1 John 4:3). Only those who will walk in the love of truth will find their way to Him who loves us all. Learning to forgive others will not be a hard truth if we have received Jesus in our hearts and understood how much we have sinned and run in error to His way. Our love for others will be measured by the way we forgive them when they also hit or offend us. Love will be the measuring rod, and the rule we must keep to live above the spirit of bitterness and resentment. We must walk in love.

“[Love] does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.” 1 Corinthians 13:5