Are you free?

Luke 21:34 Be on guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares. The great day will suddenly close in on you like a trap.

Are you always in a hurry? ...no time to pray nor even read the Bible? not even the time to speak to your fellow Christians? nor to your heavenly Father? ...too busy acquiring wealth or trying to pay off your bills? In doing so, you will save enough but not your soul.

Matthew 6:33 Seek first His kingship over you, His way of holiness, and all these things will be given you besides.

If you give priority to God, you won't lack anything, even TIME! He will give back to you the hours you spent for Him. How can He do that? He is GOD! He can make things happen for you and for all those who love Him more than anything else in this world.

You spent hours making yourself presentable...the ladies even spent more time for manicure, pedicure and make-up. But the inner man is more important than the outward man and should be well taken cared of more than the outward man.

1 Peter 3:4 Your adornment is rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the unfading beauty of a calm and gentle disposition. This is precious in God's eyes.

2 Corinthians 4:16 We do not lose heart, because our inner being is renewed each day even though our body is being destroyed at the same time.

I recently took care of my husband at a hospital in Manila where he underwent his 2nd surgery removing his gallbladder and several stones inside. He was confined in a ward of 5 beds...one was a breast cancer patient, the other one scheduled for leg surgery to allign his knee cap, the third also underwent gallbladder surgery while the 4th bed was vacant. One thing is certain...when a person undergoes surgery, he or she is venturing into the unknown where no one knew the outcome.. In the middle of the surgery, something may go wrong...a cardiac arrest, too much anesthesia, a different type of blood inserted into the IV of a patient, switched of medicines...any surgical patient is now at the hands of the surgeon and his supporting staff. In fear, most patients turn to God for protection and comfort...something that they don't normally do when all is well and no problem is in sight. Will God hear them at this very last minute?

Ecclesiastes12:1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years approach of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them; 2 Before the sun is darkened, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, while the clouds return after the rain; 3 When the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, And the grinders are idle because they are few, and they who look through the windows grow blind; 4 When the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the mill is low; When one waits for the chirp of a bird, but the daughters of song are suppressed; 5 And one fears heights, and perils in the street; When the almond tree blooms, and the locusts grow sluggish and the caper berry is without effect. Because man goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets; 6 Before the silver cords is snapped and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the broken pulley falls into the well, 7 And the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it.

Do not wait for a bad thing to happen before you turn to God. While still young and able, do the right thing and submit yourself to God.

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God; resist the devil and he will take flight. 8 Draw close to God, and He will draw close to you.

When you have a strong connection to God, one sigh of prayer will bring more than what you expect and ... much, much more because you have been pleasing God all your life. You are connected to THE POWER SOURCE much like an appliance to the electric outlet...one turn of a knob and the power is already within reach.

Psalm 34:7 When the afflicted man called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress He saved him. 8 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them.

It is better to put our trust in God than in men who are just mortal beings like us. We need physicians and surgeons but God has a much better understanding of what He created and He can very well guide these doctors in treating whatever ailment we may have.

Even when we do not know how to pray and what to pray for, God intervenes for us. Romans 8:26 The Spirit too helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech. 27 He who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit means, for the Spirit intercedes for the saints as God himself wills.

And when our time to leave this earth comes, we can be sure of where we are going. 1 Corinthians 15:54 When the corruptible frame takes on incorruptibility and the mortal immortality, then will the saying of Scripture be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

Paul's advice to the Corinthians and to us as well: 1 Corinthians 15:58 Be steadfast and persevering, my beloved brothers, fully engaged in the work of the Lord. You know that your toil is not in vain when it is done in the Lord.