How to Serve God

 Serving God wholeheartedly

A life dedicated to the Lord Jesus does not mean a life of ease. There are challenges, tests, trials and battles that must be not only faced, but also overcome.

Serving God wholeheartedly means to surrender your life completely. To serve Him means to sacrifice your passions, your desires and the love for the fleeting things of this world. To dedicate yourself entirely to God means to have a life of constant battles, disappointments, misunderstandings and tears for those you don’t even know. If the common man goes through tough times, imagine those who serve God with all their hearts! These will face battles and live ina state of constant war with Satan and his entire kingdom.

The best example of this was the Lord Jesus Himself who, despite being the Son of God, was tempted many times, but overcame all situations because He would continually pray to the Father:

"Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him…” (Hebrews 5.7)

And if the Son of God had to live in constant consecration, imagine those people who serve Him! They should live every moment seeking the Lord's help in order to overcome their times of struggle.

Those who are willing to serve Him wholeheartedly cannever prioritize themselves or their own future, but Christ, as He said:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)

It's like a soldier who goes to war. Being there in the frontlines, he has the obligation to be vigilant at all times,otherwise his life and the life of his comrades will be at risk. There is no vacation, day off or break, as the enemy does not have it either and is ready to attack at any moment.

In times of war, a country counts on their soldiers and expects them to fight with all their strength so victory can be achieved. The same happens with the Christian life. He who gave His life for the sinner, who suffered so that he could have eternal life, who saved him and called him, now needs him to reach out to other people who are still living according to the passions of the world.

Living a Christian life wholeheartedly is to place yourself in the presence of God so that His will may be done in this world.

Therefore, it is not enough to just go to church or even tobe a Christian in words or attitudes. Constant dedication is necessary, as it is written in His Word:

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Bishop Carlos

Be Holy

Royal, Holy and Special
      Dear assistant,
     I would like to call your attention to something that I consider one of the most important things that God requires from each one of us. That is the way we behave. I know, you know and all of us know very well that as children of God and His servants, wherever we go people are looking at us in a different way. For most of them we are perfect, though we are not, but they always expect to see perfection in most of the things that we do or we say. We should not need anybody to expect the best of us for us the do our best. This is something that has to be practiced by those who are born of God and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately, there are many who claim themselves as children of God, but don't care about it, and they put the name of Jesus into shame. But this is not your case, I hope!

     Let's see how God has considered us, how much He cares for us and the great difference we all can make at home, at work, inside and outside the church: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." 1Peter 2:9&10
Now, let's know the real meaning of three important words in these verses.
Royal - of or relating to a king or queen
Holy - separated for God only. Having a divine quality
Special - different from what is normal or usual

     Did you understand? Good. This is how God has considered us. However, if you don't valorize it by watching the way you behave before others, especially before unbelievers, then you are showing to everyone that you have absolutely nothing to do with God. Don't think that the uniform you wear or title you have will be able to hide the fruit you bear.
     God has honored us with the best that He has, and He wants us to honor Him in the same way. In other words, with the best we can, not only through the offering that we place on the altar, but with the way we behave before others.
     If this message was good for you, please leave a comment. If you need help in anything, feel free to write to me bcc@universal.org
I will do my best to help you.

Share this message with a friend and be blessed.
Bishop Carlos

Intimacy with God

"And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed.' Immediately the leprosy left him. And He charged him to tell no one, 'But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.'However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed." Luke 5:12-16

Dear assistants,

I want to call your attention to the underlined verse, for you to have a clear understand of the importance of keeping a straight intimacy with God. Even though The Lord Jesus was the Son of God, He knew very well that for Him to do what He did, He had to be close to God the Father through his prayers.

One of the reason why we have seen many assistants falling down and losing their salvation is not because God has left them alone, but because of their lack of communion with the Holy Spirit. Many of them haven't sought for the presence of God as they used to do in the beginning, because they are too busy, tired and so on. Little by little the fire of God inside them started to die down. They couldn't notice that it was becoming dim until the point they fell down. 

I want you to stop for a moment right now to meditate about the type of relationship that you have been keeping with God. Are you really having moments of intimacy with the Holy Spirit? Have you been separating yourself to seek for His presence? When was the last time you read the Bible?

You don't have to answer these questions for me, but I would like you to answer them for yourself and for God.

We all have to keep a straight communion with The Lord for the sake of our salvation.

Bishop Carlos

Practicing Justice

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”    Micah 6.8

Three kinds of behavior the Lord asks of his children:

1. To do justly: God is justice. What He asks here is not a theoretical kind of justice but the practice of it. It is to day by day, learn to practice true righteousness with Him, which is possible through rational faith.

2. To love mercy: To love mercy is not to just want it for yourself but to be merciful to others as well. To look with good eyes and always see from a positive or at least neutral point of view (this practice prevents us from committing injustice and takes us closer to item number 1).

3. To walk humbly with your God: The proud will never be able to walk with God, because pride is the characteristic of the devil and was one of the reasons for his downfall. The humble is able to deny himself to follow Jesus. He sacrifices whatever is necessary to please the Lord. The humble person knows that he does not deserve anything and his greatest joy is to be a tool in God’s hands. Now, how can a person be a tool if he is proud? It makes no sense.

Note that these three kinds of behavior are not theoretical or occasional. They must be followed and practiced daily until they become part of the character of those practicing it. Once there is effort to keep practicing these key points, it will be easier to practice everything else in the Word of God as well, even the things that are seemingly hard.

Bishop Macedo

  Doing the best we can

    "But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper." Genesis 39.21-23

   Dear all,
   For God to do His part which is to bless us by fulfilling what He has promised, first we have to do our part, which is to do the best of everything that comes into our hands. Joseph for example, had to do his best and because of that God prospered the work of his hands. Everyone saw God in his life and that God was with him.
   Many Christians think that God will be revealed in this world through His word only. He needs more than that, He will be shown through what His people do. This happened to Joseph in Egypt when he was in prison. He never lost heart, nor complained because of his situation. Even when he was behind bars he knew that God was with him and whatever was given to him to do he did his best. Unfortunately, there are servants who only do their best when everything is ok, but if they face problems or the wind is blowing against them, then they change. They don’t apply all their strength on what they are doing. How can God be revealed through them like this?
   No matter the situation you may be going through right now, God is with you.  He wants to be glorified in your life. Don’t give up on what you are doing for Him. Remain faithful until the end, exactly as Joseph did and God will honor you. He will put you on top.
   Don’t forget, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" Hebrews 13.8
   Is there any doubt that He wants to do in your life the same thing He did in Joseph’s life? I believe not!
   Whatever comes into your hands to do, do your best and let everyone see God in you.
   Share this message with a friend and be the blessing wherever you go.
   Bishop Carlos

Curse and blessing

 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of theLord your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known."  Deuteronomy 11. 26-28

Dear assistants,
See how wonderful our God is, because He gave us the power to choose and decide what to do and where to go. This power is inside each one of us and we use it according to our faith. We all know that we have to take full responsibility of any decision that we make. Whether it is good or bad consequences. It’s our responsibility and we are not supposed to transfer it to anybody, however, there are many people making wrong choices and wrong decisions by their own and they always look for someone else to blame.

 Amazingly, before they do what they want to do they don’t talk with anybody; some of them even hide what they are doing, but when things go wrong, then they don’t take responsibility of their mistake. It’s much easier to blame others or even God Himself.

God gave us the Holy Spirit and with Him, He gave us wisdom, intelligence and the ability to think before we make any choice or decision in life. Therefore if right now you are about to make any decision I would suggest to you to think very well and ask God to give direction in order for you to do what’s right with no regrets. Remember, God gives the options, but the decision is yours, not His. Think about it.
Share this message with a friend and be blessed.
Bishop Carlos