Last blog I wrote was about the father of all lies. Talking about the devil, and his powers; how strong is he, is tempting and lying all he can do? That is my mission right now, to reveal his powers. Before I begin, I heard on the radio regarding someone was struggling with jealousy, and how the devil placed it in his heart. The pastor came off as “jealousy is your nature, don’t go around and claiming the devil made me do it” This is true, these blogs I am writing is not an excuse to blame the devil but to show you what and how he interferes with our life. Jealousy, hate, anger, sexual desires, lying, it’s all in our nature, and yes the devil never make you do anything, it’s your choice! Remember the devil didn’t make Eve eat the fruit, right. But I would never come off to any one like that, it gives no hope. We are all different, we fight our battles differently and for some people it is easy, others like me it is a struggle. But I would have encourage the person with the problem and help him to understand that though it’s your nature to be jealous and the devil may have a part in your problem, you still need to make a choice. You can choose to entertain the sinful nature and be jealous and watch, how destructive that can be, or realize the truth and know that being jealous is a sin and repent and ask God to give you strength to overcome. Pray that prayer every single time you feel that way, it not easy to deny the flesh but through God all things are possible. Can you tell that I have been fighting some battles lately, and it frustrates me when someone tells me that the problem is me and you are just weak? The way I look at it is like strength training, you don’t get strong with out increasing you resistance, so the more I struggle and over come the stronger I get. For spiritual workouts check out my friends website it offers some exercise for the soul http://soulfit.kaala.com/

Well let’s continue with the study, the devils powers. We know he is an angel, and in the bible all the angels are doing some unreal stuff, destroying towns,

Genesis 19:12,13  [12] “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” the angels asked. “Get them out of this place—sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. [13] For we will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it.”

Revealing prophecy,
          Daniel 10:12-14 [12] Then he said, “Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. [13] But for twenty-one days the spirit prince* of the ....kingdom.. of ..Persia.... blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels,* came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.* [14] Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”
Bringing good news,
Luke 2:9-11 [9] Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, [10] but the angel reassured them. “Don't be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! [11] The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in ....Bethlehem...., the city of ....David....!....
As far as the devil goes lets look what the bible discloses. In the book of Job, satan is exposed on his wrath and his powers. First we need to acknowledge his speed. He is not omnipresence like God but he has speed. Let’s look at the book of Job.
              Job 1: 7 [7] The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From *going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” (ESV)
In this verse satan states he was walking the earth, and he is not doing this in years which demonstrate his speed. Here are a few verses that will support this.
                       Job 1:13-19 [13] Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, [14] and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, [15] and *the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants* with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” [16] While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, *“The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” [17] While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, *“The Chaldeans formed *three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” [18] While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, *“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, [19] and behold, a great wind came across *the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” (ESV) ....
              If you look at these events it all happens in a matter of minutes, but if you think about what events are happening you will see how fast satan is moving. First satan rose up the Sabeans to steal the Oxen and Donkey and kill his servants, then he strikes down the Sheep’s and servants with the Fire if God (lightning), then he got the Chaldeans into 3 groups and stole Jobs Camels and killed his servants. Last satan causes the wind to destroy Jobs sons’ house killing all his kids. I am not sure about you but he is moving pretty quick to do all this. How can we know it is in a matter of minutes, well all the messengers came to tell Job the bad news one after another, before the last message was even finished. How important is this fact, I heard people say, well satan can be doing all this bad stuff in the world, he’s not God he can’t be every where at once. That is true but he can move fast enough to do all these things in the world. Why wouldn’t he, he knows time is running out. Do you thin he takes breaks?

What else can satan do? Well in the last verse we covered it speaks of the great wind blew down Jobs sons house down. Well it seems that he has power over the wind. Let’s look into this, in the book of Ephesians 2

 2:2  [2] *in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following *the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in *the sons of disobedience—(ESV)

“the prince of the power of the air” is speaking about the devil, satan. So does this mean he does have the power to control the air? Here is what I got from “The IVP Bible Background Commentary” Most Jewish people believed that *Satan or the chief of the heavenly angels of the nations ran the whole world except for ....Israel..... “Ruler with authority over the realm of the air” was a natural title for his dominion; it was commonly believed that evil spirits dominated the lowest realm of the heavens (i.e., the atmospheric realm), far below the realm of God's highest angels and his throne. “Air” was the usual term for the atmospheric heaven. (BBC) So what does this mean? Well satan is powerful but he has no dominion that is not controlled by God. I know this kinda doesn’t make sense, but though satan brought down fire from the sky and wind to destroy Jobs kids house, it doesn’t mean he controlled it. God allowed satan to use those powers to fulfill Gods will. The story of Job is packed with all kinds of spiritual lessons. And allowing satan to use those power, satan fulfilled Gods plan to reveal how we should, humble our selves, how to rely on God, how to suffer for God, and it shows Gods grace and blessings. So in these last two blogs we have learned that satan has speed, his leis and he temps, but he has no control over weather. Let’s end it here and continue next time, hopefully not 2 months from now.

Prayer: Heavenly Farther, thank you for this time, Lord bless those who reads this blog and give them strength and wisdom to fight our great adversary. Lord thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins, Lord forgive us for our nature and weakness to cling on to you, Holy Spirit fill those how ask for you. Lord if it is your will give us one more day, we ask in the name of our King Jesus Christ. AMEN!

It is written that the Devil is here to steal, kill and destroy you. How strong do you think you are? Do you think you can with stand the Devil alone? Is the Devil all powerful? How can we overcome the Devil? Let me help you with these truthful answers. First once you become a born again Christian, understand the mosaic Law, the ten commandments and the teachings of Christ Jesus, the Devil will put you to the test to see how strong you are. Your strength will not be measured in the physical sense but on the spiritual level. Second to stand alone against the Devil, I only know of one Man who defeated the Devil and that is Jesus Christ. If you look in the Bible, 3 of the greatest men in this world could not; King David fell to lust, adultery, and murder. King Solomon, “wisest man on earth” sinned by worshipping idols. Then Samson, a man bonded by the Nasserite vow, came to the power of lust over a woman. Many more fell to the power and subtleness of the Devil. Now as far as the power of the Devil, you know he is not God, and he is a created being by God; which means he has limits and he is not all powerful. In this blog I want to look into his strength and hopefully cover how we can overcome him.

OK, in Genesis he lie’s, and temp Eve. How powerful can words be? Well have you ever been misled, been promised something if you did what was asked and not receive what was promised? Have someone ever told you “you can’t” what ever it may be; “you can’t graduate,” “you can’t win,” or take a hit pot is not bad for you? I think we all have, we believe it and we ultimately suffer.  How bad can it be if we believe in a lie? Well if it is something that displeases God then it is bad, especially if it is pure defiance. God created Adam and Eve perfect, perfect in a sense they could not die. But what happened when they believed in a lie? Genesis 3:4  [4] “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. (NIV) Their punishment was life, the life we know, pain, suffering, labor and death. Genesis 3:16-19 [16] To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” [17] To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. [18] It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. [19] By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (NIV)....

The penalty for Adam and Eves was death, lead by a lie and tempted by the devil. How strong are you? Some pastor’s will argue this subject and say things like we shouldn’t give to much power to the devil, because he’s not that strong. Can you see the lie in that statement? The biggest lie that the devil can win by, is he is not that strong or he does not exist at all. You may hear that it’s not the devil that causes you to sin, it is you! This is true, we are weak, frail, and we were born to sin. In life, where do you think all temptations come from? Can God tempt us or would he? The bible says no, James ..1:13.. [13] When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. (NIV) So if God does not temp us with evil, who does? Our adversary the devil, he knows what it would take for us to fall, he knows our weak points, he also know the consequence. Like I said in the beginning, John ..10:10.. [10] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; (NIV) Do you think God wants that for us? No, John ..3:17.. [17] God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. ....

How can we over come lies and temptation? First, believe in the truth,  John ..3:16.. [16] “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Once you believe in this then fill your life with God, build a relationship with Jesus, fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ, and most important read the word of God which will be your only offensive weapon against the Devil, Ephesians 6:17... take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.....

This blog took awhile for me to complete; all because of, my laziness, procrastination, fear, and lies. The lies that I heard was “no sense do it, nobody is reading it”, “stop wasting your time”, “you stupid and you can’t even write good, people can’t understand you” and the lie that drove fear in my life, “God don’t care about you anymore, you are a sinner, you disobey, you don’t change; He left you, the Holy Spirit left you, give up and enjoy.” You may be wondering how did this happen? Well I sinned and entertained it made excuses; though my sin was just in my mind nothing physical, like outright lying to get something, murder, or stealing. My mind was being controlled by hate, anger, lust, and lack of trust. Knowing this was not what God wanted and through the help of my wife (she doesn’t even know she helped me) I have acknowledged the lies, and the truth. Hebrew 13:5,6 [5] …for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we ( I ) can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”  And because I believe in this I admit to the devil, he is right, I disobey God, I am not worthy, and yes I am a sinner, Romans 7:15-20 [15] I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18] For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. But it’s all about the rebound, and I know that God never left He’s right here with me as I write this Blog. The lies the devil has is appealing as chocolate, as steak or a million dollars or a hundred million dollars. But the treasures that God offers no one can beat. Mathew ..13:44.. [44] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (NIV) ....

.. ..

To be continued…

OK now we can identify him in the bible; let's see how we come to believe he is real. First do you believe that Jesus is real or is He a token of goodness? Big question to understand, if you going to get the picture; you see if you are like me and believe Jesus came and died for us then you'll understand that after Jesus was baptize by John the Baptist, Jesus was tempted by not a figment of His imagination but by satan. So you know he is real and not just a token of evil. Mathew 4:1- 1.Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Also if believe that the Bible is truly inspired by God, then you'll know that it was satan that tested Job, and not a token of evil. Job 1:6-6.One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.

7.The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

8.Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9."Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied.

10."Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.

11.But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

12.The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord

So far we see satan tempting Jesus, and testing the faith of Job, to curse God. Well if you look into what or I should say, how he is doing this; we will see that he knows the bible – Mathew 4: 5-7 [5] Then the Devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, [6] and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

'He orders his angels to protect you.

And they will hold you with their hands

to keep you from striking your foot on a stone. "

[7] Jesus responded, "The Scriptures also say, 'Do not test the Lord your God."

Also if you look at Genesis you will see him lying to Eve about what God said regarding the fruit. Genesis 3:1-7 [3:1] Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"

[2] "Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. [3] "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."

[4] "You won't die!" the serpent hissed. [5] "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."

[6] The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too.

The bible calls satan the father of lies, and he knows the bible. What is so important about knowing who satan is? Well, as we go on into this study we will find out more about satan, his powers, his mission and his weakness. Like I said in the beginning salvation is yours for free, but it is what happens after you are saved is why these next blogs will be important. We need to understand once saved, you step out of darkness and into the light and now he knows were you stand and satan and his minions will stop at nothing to kill, steal, and destroy you. There is a war going on and we need to understand that we can't just sit back, but we must train, and not to train just to be conditioned but train to win. Ephesians 6:10-20 [10] A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. [11] Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. [12] For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

[13] Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. [14] Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. [15] For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.* [16] In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.* [17] Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [18] Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.

[19] And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God's secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too.* [20] I am in chains now for preaching this message as God's ambassador. But pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.

Prayer: Our heavenly father, please bless those who read this blog, Lord please lift the veil of darkness created by the devil which blinds your children. Give them sight to see the schemes of the devil, but also take any fear away from them that they may stand strong in your word and stand to fight and NEVATAP!!! Lord let you will be down, forgive us for our sins and thank you for your mercy and grace to give us life again! We ask this in your name Jesus the Christ, AMEN

Last blog, I shared about the poison of unforgiving. It is so deadly that, it can kill you both physically and spiritually. I talked about what it's like to not to forgive others, now I want to talk about being forgiven. Does it matter who forgives us, yea and no. A wise man said "become the change you want this world to become" but that does not mean that the world will change when you change. People will not be so forgiving of your sins against them, no matter how much you apologize. But other people don't really matter as much as God forgiving you for your sins. Someone told me, "but that's what Jesus came for, so our sins will be forgiven." True, but in order to receive His grace, you need to ask to be forgiven and to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, that He came as the sacrifice for our sins and He did die and was resurrected. If you do that your sins will be forgiven. But God wants you not just to ask He wants you to turn away from your sins, Repent. It took a while to write this, because as I studied what is repentance I realized that I would be a hypocrite. You see, when I became a born again Christian, I accepted Christ, asked for His forgiveness, and repented. Well I changed, then as I grew I believed more and more of this little lie that the devil has feed me, "it's ok to have a little sin as long as you ask for forgiveness." So what I repented for, my attitude was, sorry Lord I slipped please forgive me, I have been doing this for a while. Well is my sin forgiven, yes but what I do; does that please the Lord? No! What's the big deal, Jesus will always forgive, and by the way we are only human right. That last line "we are only human" is one of the biggest lie that the devil has told us and we use it as a way out, an excuse as why we sin, but that is a bunch of crock. Think about it, us only humans can do great things:

 Philippians 4: 12, 13 [12] I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and *hunger, abundance and *need. [13] I can do all things *through him who strengthens me. (NIV)

So I think we are stronger then we think, and though we are human through Jesus Christ we can turn from sin and change the way we live. But lets get back to the "little sins." What is the big deal if you slip a little, just ask for forgiveness right? Dust yourself off and move forward. Well if you have the attitude that I described above and don't repent, without you knowing you will be in some serious trouble.

James 1:14,15 [14] But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). [15] Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death. (AMP)

So you see how and why it is important to repent, I know this first hand. Failure to repent almost cost me my marriage. Before I got married, I got hooked on pornography. At that time I didn't see the big deal, I am single, I am not hurting anyone I truly did not believe I was sinning. I felt like I was doing something dirty, because that's what I was told growing up, "dirty old man." Then I got married, I accepted God and I read this passage:

Mathew 5:27,28 [27] "You have heard that it was said, *'You shall not commit adultery.' [28] But I say to you that *everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (ESV)

So I tried to repent, but like I said it almost cost me my marriage, what was done openly, now I am hiding and deceiving my wife. You see what started as something small (an evil desire) became bigger (sin) and without the Grace of God I would be divorced (sin fully matured, brings death) Now I will not be a hypocrite and tell you I have overcame this and has turned away from my sin, I would be lying. But this is the real world of my Christian walk, it is not easy, now my mind is a battle field. I don't watch porno or search on-line for it, but the length of time I was saturated with it, my mind and heart has been tainted with this sin and evilness. My struggle is daily; the thought alone is a sin in my heart. I am constantly in prayer with God to give me strength to repent, delete these images and thoughts. This is why God wants us to repent, so we don't let sin grow so big in our heart, and produce death. Some people are blessed to immediately turn from their sin, some like me struggle. As I studied this topic and wrote this blog it help me to have it in my mind fresh for three weeks to repent, fight, neva give up, NEVATAP!!!

 Peter asked "Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Seven times? Jesus replies, "No, seventy times seven" Wow, this is a hard hitting verse, if you haven't read this one check it out in Mathew 19:21, 21. Tell me what you think. First of all what Jesus' reply is not an exact number of times you should forgive someone but it is a typically graphic Jewish way of saying "Never hold grudges." Our greatest struggle in life is forgiving someone and I mean truly forgiving someone. Not the stuff that we were taught, "forgive but no forget." Some of the greatest downfalls for people I seen was, not forgiving someone who has wrong them. It is just hard to forgive someone that hurts you; I mean little things like a bump while walking by you is nothing. I am talking about if someone stabs you in the back (figure of speech), someone you trust looks the other way when you are in need of help or some who just talks bad about you. What about if someone steals from you, unforgivable! Imagine God taught us how not to forgive people? Life would be in chaos, you would not have any friends, and you would not trust anyone and no one would like or trust you, that is; a life not worth even living. Why do you think it is very important for us to forgive people? Well lets think of a scenario, lets say you be-friend someone, after a few years you create a good relationship. Then one day you find out this friend of yours is talking crap about you to the rest of your associates. You get mad, rage takes over you, you confront him and he lies. You get furious, and now you want to kick his butt. Then you think it is not worth it, and you think, the hell with him. But everyday you see him, the sight of him makes you mad and you want to satisfy your rage and kick his butt. This goes on for years…

            Has this ever happen to you? Well for me this has happen too many times, and this is what I have learned, you never get use to it. But what was taught to me for many years, hating someone and not having it resolve only helped keep my rage with in me. And a wise pastor taught me, every time I see the people I hated, it would be like this… you hate someone, and wish that person would drink some poison and die, but every time that you see'em with an unforgiving heart it is like you are the one drinking the poison and saying to the other person DIE!!!!!! But in reality you are the one dying. You see if you harbor an unforgiving heart, you start to get physically ill. When I had so much hate built up in me, my blood pressure was crazy high. The Dr. said I was a walking time bomb, any time I my heart could give out because it was being overworked by stress. I remember a few times, after an altercation with people that I hated I past out, only to find out it could have been mini heart attacks. Now this was about 7-9 years ago, witch means I was only 25, 26 years old, and I was in the best shape of my life weighing about 195lbs and a body fat of 10% Being stubborn, and unforgiving, also gives no room for your spirit to grow. At the time of my low, God was either the last thing I wanted to think about or the first one I would curse. There was no way I wanted to be a Christian. My life was empty, I trusted no one, I didn't care if I died and I had no love to give to anyone other then my brothers. What changed? Well, I went to church, and one of the first sermons I heard was about forgiveness, this was the second scripture I learned.

            2 Corinthians 2:10, 11 [10] When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive him (for whatever is to be forgiven), I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit, [11] so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are very familiar with his evil schemes.

In this sermon the pastor place a rock under everyone's seat. He asked us to place everything we had inside our spirit into the rock. And then we prayed and asked that God release us from this bondage; then the pastor asked us if we did that and we was ready to forgive and move on, then drop the rock. I didn't but I held on to the rock and it sits on my desk at work, I wrote on it "my weapon of forgiveness" to remind me to give it to the Lord. You keep an unforgiving heart and you keep your spirit "door" open for the devil come in and control you. People kill, lie, steal, and destroy other people because we leave our "door" open with an unforgiving heart. Also remember God sent His son so our sins can be forgiven, imagine if God never forgave us. Hell would be over populated. But in order for God to forgive us he tells us to forgive those who trespass against us.

Luke 11:4 [4] and forgive us our sins—

Just as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

            Mathew 6:14, 15 [14] "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. [15] But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

How important is it to forgive others? Well God want you to leave your worship to Him and go and forgive anyone you need to forgive.

            Mathew 5:23, 24 [23] "So if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, [24] leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

Aloha.

OK well, last I wrote was how to make it through the "Storm" Today I want to share a trial that I have been going through in these past days and the message that God has spoken to me. Times when God speaks to you and it hearts that would be called conviction, and then other times there is an overwhelming sensation of peace and love. It comforts and reassures you that God is still there listening and He loves you. Well this situation has been going on for a while now, but just these past days it has had a negative affect on me. Then God spoke. Here's the situation. Our neighbor is not the best neighbor, but we also had worst. In the beginning, they would park their car just a little blocking a driveway, It was not that bad but still it would make a little tougher to get our Van into our garage. Then it started to become constant and they started blocking more of our driveway; not every day but maybe once a week. So I thought what the heck is going on? I checked and they have enough room on the other side of their house to park. For some reason they would park only close to my house. Not to mention they have 2 cars in their garage. Wow this is getting to bug me, and my wife, she could not stand it. It seems that they did not have any common courtesy. All we could think of was how stupid and selfish these people are. Now you can't say we are bad neighbors, the first week they moved in my wife made some treats for them, you know some brownies, cake and other goodies. That was not all God told her to bake bread, and my wife did a few times. She tried to be the good neighbor, and we still can't understand why they act like this. They don't even say hi. The other day a good friend of mine told me a neighbor he had to deal with. My friend has a great heart, but will not take crap from anyone. His issue was that his neighbor would abuse his family, I forgot if he was hitting them or if it was the emotional abuse, regardless abuse is abuse and the police has been called on this guy a few times, so he built a reputation. Well my friend's problem solving skill was, eh what, why you no come and hit me, you tough, come. This is not his exact words but it was not that far from this at all. My first thought was, that must have felt good, maybe I should do that. Than all that flooded my mind was couldn't you have dealt with it another way, like talking and explaining to him? It is so easy to let your carnal body take control. Your sinful nature.

Romans 7:15-20 [15] I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. [16] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. [17] As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. [18] I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.* For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. [19] For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (NIV)

So thinking, if I snap at my neighbors then I will be worrying about retaliation on my ohana, ah I no need that stress, but the stress I have now because they so unloving and no care about anybody but themselves is not helping either. So what am I going to do? Well I get stupid and pray… like this, God giv'em hell. Then my first verse that I memorized popped up in my mind:

Proverbs 3:5-7[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. [7] Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. (NIV)

So I prayed correctly and just converse with the Lord, I did all the talking. I just poured all my concerns and hate and everything that was in me regarding this stupid situation. Then my Lord spoke, and He asked "What is the 2 greatest commandments?" Like I side in the beginning, sometime it hurts when He speaks. The 2 greatest commandments are:

Mark 12:37-40 [37] Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'* [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'* [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (NIV)

Love your neighbor as yourself, wow that is hard. Then He spoke again, "just lov'em, why do you let them get to you so much? Don't you have better things to do? Why open the door for the devil to come right in? Do you love me, then follow my commandments." It was still hard for me to do this. I kept asking why should I? Here's the thing, I sin almost everyday, I ask for forgiveness everyday. Remember the mire thought is considered a sin. Jesus said if you anger and hate someone you committed murder, if you lust for another woman you committed adultery. Imagine, if He ever got frustrated with all the sin I do, and stop forgiving me. Or just say I don't want to deal with you anymore, my life would be empty. But yet that is exactly what I am doing with my neighbor. "I'm not going to put up with this anymore, this is war!!!!!!" That is what has been going through my mind. The teachings that Jesus has taught us, do you think it is true and righteous or waha (Hawaiian word: all mouth) Love thy neighbor, here's another verse: Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Here is the last verse that I just found and I want to leave it with you, I hope you will endure your neighbors BS and trust in the Lord, just follow His commandments. P.S. your neighbor is not just the people you live next to, it can be a co-worker, a person sitting next to you any one and every one. Aloha and have a great day.

[12] "Do for others what you would like them to do for you"

Ok in my last blog I explained that we are going to take a different course and looking into preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ, "the Storm." Originally I was going to try and imitate the Hurricane checklist, but then I realize that preparedness checklist is mainly for your survival after the storm. But "the Strom" that I want to help you get ready for won't have an "after." Revelations 20:15 [15] And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. (NLT) If you need help to prepare yourself for the "lake of fire" you don't really need my help, just turn on the TV.

First of all how do we know there is even a "Storm" coming? There are a few books in the Bible we can look at. Daniel is one and also Revelation there is also the four Gospels. Jesus Himself warns of His coming (Mathew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). Ok so what is the big deal about the end of time, the world will end and all the pain and suffering will end with it right. So what is the big deal let Christ come and end it all! Well the big deal is when He comes and "ends it" will you be "ended" also? (Mathew 24:40,41  [40] Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. [41] Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. (NIV) Do you want to be left behind? I hope your answer is no. I know where I want to be and my friends and ohana trust me I want all of you with me, this goes out to all who reads this, our relationship may not be strong; maybe just a myspace thing, but still I don't want anybody left behind. One way hell is described is weeping and gnashing of teeth and a lake of fire and pain (Luke 16:24 [24] So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. NIV) You will also be away from God. To live eternally with out God, I can't wish that on my worse enemy so these next blogs and everything I will be teaching I am praying that God will reveal to you what is needed for you to play your role in His will for us all and I am begging you that you make that choice that will give you life everlasting with me and our Lord. (John 14:2,3  [2] In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (NIV)

What or how do we first prepare ourselves for His coming or "the Storm?" Well first we know He is coming, so if you believe this then your next step is to accept Jesus as the Christ, The Messiah. (Mathew 16:16 [16] Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,* the Son of the living God." NIV) The one and only way for you to receive everlasting life and be save from this coming "Storm" is to believe who Jesus is, again, I know I mentioned this in a few of my blogs but it is that simple.(John 3:16-18 [16] "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,* that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. NIV) But this must be done with a sincere heart, remember God know what is in your heart. Sorry but you can't fool Him. What about people who are good but don't believe in Jesus? Well what makes them good, to who's standard? I know people who consider hitting people for no reason, is good; as long as it makes the hitter feel good. Other people thinks having sex with a lot of partners even married ones is good, people swearing is alright, so I ask what is good? I learned this from another pastor if you consider Mother Teresa good and Adolf Hitler, or Jeffrey Dahmer evil, where in-between these 2 do you rank your selves? Oh yea lets not forget Jesus and the works He did he probably be a distant 100 miles away from Mother Teresa, where do you think you rank, I myself would be closer to Hitler, people who knows me would disagree. But I know what I have done so far in my life and if I compare to the works of Mother Teresa I am not even close. Where do you rank yourself, and what have you done to earn that spot? Honestly I get on my knees and thank God for being so merciful because I am an unworthy servant. I am glad that all it takes is to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Remember you may not worry or think your life is good enough and you don't need to have God in your life, but what do you want, a good enough life in this world which is like a vapor in the wind which comes and goes or life ever lasting, eternal. Imagine what you do and who you meet in you life in your lifetime, which at most will be 101 years if you are lucky, is so insignificantly small compare to what you can do or who you will meet and questions answered by God Himself after the "Storm." The greatest power that God gave us is free will, it is your choice, CHOOSE WISELY!

Love and praying,

Vandel Chinen

Hurricane season is here! Every year, the beginning of June we start to hear and see all the advertisements about Hurricane season, and it reads: "Are you prepared?" It's so funny, even when we are warned there maybe a disaster coming, we wait until the last minute. Then when disaster strikes, we cry and say, "we didn't know, we weren't prepared." Well even if we lose a love one in a disaster we can still recover from the tragedy. For the past 2000 years we have been hearing a warning and I am afraid that we are going to wait last minute before we start to prepare, but then will be to late.

1 Thessalonians [2] For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. [3] When people are saying, "All is well; everything is peaceful and secure," then disaster will fall upon them as suddenly as a woman's birth pains begin when her child is about to be born. And there will be no escape. [NLT]

Why do you think we will wait? Well one reason is because some don't even believe in Jesus. Others believe in a higher being, but believe in something totally different like reincarnation. There are also the ones who think they know Jesus and believe in God, but know nothing of what the Bible teaches and on the warning. These believers are the one who has the "Holy quota" of just going to church one day a week. Some are the fall away children, the kids who were raised in a religious family but choose to be in the world and believe they are good enough to be saved. They know of the truth but water it down, and think "just be good and have faith and I am saved." True faith means you believe in God and His will is pure and righteous, and you will be lead by the spirit to do work to serve His will and fulfill His mission of bringing His children to life everlasting, in heaven. 

 James 2:14, [14] What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? [15] Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. [16] If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? [17] In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. [18] But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. [19] You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. [20] You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless*? [21] Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? [22] You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. [23] And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"* and he was called God's friend. [24] You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. [25] In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? [26] As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I have been doing studies of the book of Mathew these past months, mainly to introduce to some Jesus to your lives, others just to get a study session going. These past months the Lord has been weighing a lot of stuff on my heart. I then started to question am I leading people to Christ? This question helped me to change course and looking at what we need to prepare our selves, for the coming of Christ. Every time I think of the day my Lord returns I get excited. Knowing that this world will end and with pain and suffering also. Kids will never starve, women and kids will never be abused again, daddy's will never abandoned their families. No more love ones lost to addictions. We will never cry in sorrow ever again. Wouldn't you get excited knowing this is what we have to look forward to not to mention being with Jesus, have all our questions answered. Like, how did you create the universe? What was the Dinosaurs all about? But then the Lord always reminds me of our task at hand He also shares what happens if we do nothing. My lord weighed on me what happens to the one who did not accept me, those that I placed in your life, what did you do with my Name? The pain knowing that if we wait till it is to late, we will perish, is unbearable. I know at the most maybe a 1000 people in my life including my ohana and maybe 10 percent will be save the rest, I will never see again, because they don't know, don't wanna know, or don't care about Jesus. In these upcoming weeks, months or until God tell me other wise I will be teaching and studying on how we can prepare our selves for the storm that is coming and who we can help others. If there is anything in particular you want to talk about let me know, or even if you have a question just send me a message. My logo and motto is NEVATAP, one reason is because when Jesus was persecuted He never tapped out He bared the pain for our salvation that is love. The other reason is in the book of James.

James 1:12 [12] Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Starting in Mathew chapter 10, our Lord gives the authority to His disciples to cast out evil spirits, demons, to heal every sickness and illness. Now here is what I want all of us to look at. Jesus gave "His disciples" the authority to all these things, does this pertains to us in this day and age or is this just literature for us to read? Webster's online dictionary defines disciple as: Someone who believes and helps to spread the doctrine of another. The Greek word is, Mathetes which is define as: a learner, pupil, disciple. So let me ask you again, does the authority given by Jesus pertain to you, are you "His Disciple?" As a Christian we are Christ like followers, we become a pupil, a disciple. We all have the authority to do these things, through Jesus Christ. Remember we have no special powers, we are not super humans, but it is written in the Bible, God sent the Holy Spirit to us, it is also written, "greater is He who is in me then he who is in the world." The Holy Spirit dwells in us, when you proclaimed Jesus Christ your savior, or through you spiritual walk, did you ever have an overwhelming feeling of awe; heat running through your body, your knees weak and ready to buckle? That my friend, is the Holy Spirit, a gift from God. He is our Holy counselor. Why did Jesus do this, if He is God why didn't He do it Himself? The old saying is, "if you want something done, you have to do it yourself!" well in this case what better way to prove His authority. If you are a manager of a department and does all the work while your staff sits and watch, people will view it as you having no authority. But if you delegate work to your staff and also give them the authority to accomplish the job it shows you are in control, just like Jesus. People got healed and demons were cast out, by His disciples. I know you maybe thinking if that is true then why can't I heal people and why can't I cast out demons? Further in this book Peter come across this situation, he fails to cast a demon out from a boy. Peter, I can imagine being sad and disappointed, asked Jesus "Lord why couldn't I cast that demon out" and Jesus replies "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Because you have so little faith." In the book of Mark 9:29 "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting." So we need faith, to believe we have the authority, we need to pray and we need to fast. Prayer and fasting strengthens your faith and belief, this helps you to cling on to God and allow God to work His miracles through you. Do you think you can heal the sick, or cast out Demons; in verse 7 Jesus also instruct His disciples to raise the dead. Wow, know some believe Jesus meant the ones who are dead to their sins and some believe in a literal sense, I believe both are true. What do you think????

Wrapping up Chapter 9, we see Jesus casting out a demon from a man. A man who was mute, or could not speak because of this demon. Trying to look for more information about demons, I only got more confused. The bottom line is man has a lot of theory about demons, and the bible speaks little of their origin. I can't be certain about who they are or where they came from; I do know that they exist because they are in the bible. And what the bible speaks of them and how the authors warns us about them and teaches us how to fend them off. They are recorded in the bible as evil and tormenting to us, and we need to be aware of them. It is true that Christians filled with the Holy Spirit can never be possessed, unlike this man we reading about, but we can be oppressed and that is our spiritual battle. Some say that our battle is our own mind, true but not totally true. We are born into a sinful flesh but God has giving us the knowledge to overcome temptation. The bible documents Gods telling us that "He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Cor 10:13 NIV) If God is all knowing and say He knows how much we can "bear", but when temptation and trials comes our way we are ready to tapout or throw the towel in; but if we have faith in God we know that we can handle more then we think. If we can not, He will deliver us from it. Let me end this with the knowledge of all the evil spirits, demons or what ever they are, fears the Lord.

Versus 35-38 Jesus is teaching, healing and casting out demons. As Jesus does this He sees the crowd and has compassion, why? Jesus is God in the flesh, He knows the beginning and the end; He looks at us as His children. Unless we put faith in Him we are doom, and God knows that and it hurts. I have a friend who has been in the church business and a faithful Christian for almost 30 yrs I think, but he told me just recently with his job and other stuff he did he seen how great the harvest is. This shocked me, I thought to my self, how the heck you are a Christian for 30 years and not see the harvest. My blessing that God has given me was the sight to see the harvest, I am not sure why my friend could not see the harvest though he did tell me, I don't want to miss quote him. If you go to the mall on a busy day look at the crowd walking around and think, How much people have been saved through Christ Jesus, if you feel that the number is low then you see how great the harvest is, because you are only seeing a fraction of the people on this earth. If you remember a few blogs ago, I shared a conversation I had with Jesus, and on what He weighed on my heart, and the urgency to help and lead people to God for salvation. Think about this if you farm a field with the best fruits in the world and you are the only one harvesting, you are only capable of doing so much, right. What happens with the fruits un-harvested, it falls and ruts away. Trust me God loves you more then anything else and does not want you to rut away. He wants all of us working in the fields and making sure there will be no fruit left behind. To end this blog I want to send an invitation to you who reads this and pass to other people you know on myspace and compel them to subscribe to my blog, and join our journey to a better understanding of who God is, why we are here, and why does God love us so much. I also pray that God will reveal Himself to you and bless you. Aloha and have a great evening.  

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