A Gift Fit for a King by Christina Calvache

My sister is known to throw extravagant, legendary parties. Her creativity and ingenuity are remarkable. Every year she plans her office Christmas Party, and I’m always eager to hear all about it. This year the Christmas party is the same day as the owner of the company’s 40th birthday. While discussing options for a gift, my sister stated, “What can you give someone who has everything? He’s rich, rich, rich and in need or want for nothing”. She decided upon a Marilyn Monroe impressionist singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President”. We believe her boss will be pleasantly surprised.

Now that the Gifting Season is upon us, I began thinking about gifts for my husband, Vinnie. We have been together for almost 20 years. We are long passed impressing each other with beautifully wrapped treasures. And we are comfortable enough with saying, “we don’t need to get each other anything this year.” But since he gave me such a beautiful Mother’s Day Present this year, I kinda want to get him something special, which made me ponder again. “What do you get someone who is in need or want for nothing?”

At the very moment I was brainstorming, I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to think,

“What would I give Jesus for Christmas, if I could literally give him a gift?”

This was both strange to me and exciting. It was strange because I never thought of this before and exciting because it was an enigma (mystery). I had to come up with a really good answer!

Jesus has it all. 1 Chronicles 29:11 states “For everything in Heaven and Earth is Yours”. At this point, I knew the Holy Spirit was not only searching my heart, but giving me something to write about and share with you. (I have had Writer’s Block” for a while now)

What do you give a King who calls things into existence? (Ro 4:17).

You might say, “That’s easy, He wants you to give Him yourself”, after all, isn’t that what He always wants from us? But I believe for You and Me at House on the Rock Church, this year, Jesus is calling us to give something very specific.

When Eve ate the apple, she was deceived (Gen 3:13). She wasn’t blatantly defying God. She was doing something she thought would be good for her and Adam. She thought she was doing something for herself that she could justify. She probably knew there would be consequences. She probably didn’t see her actions as sinful. Yet, in God’s eyes, Eve sinned.

What deeply rooted piece of yourself do you harbor and say it is good for you? What is that “One Thing” you can justify and accept the consequences for because you may not see it as sin. Yet, in God’s eye’s, it Is sin. I believe we need to invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and reveal to us what we should give.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

When the Spirit reveals that "one thing" to you, don’t let your heart be hardened or dismayed. He will help you yield towards truth. The Refiner’s fire may burn and sting, but results in a lustrous silver and Gold. To give up a piece of yourself that you’ve concealed is a Gift Fit for a King, especially if He sees it as Sin.

One Truth By Christina Calvache

Comically, every time I say, “Tell me the truth,” I hear the voice of Jack Nicholson echo, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! As he reluctantly exclaimed on the jury stand in the movie “A Few Good Men”. He couldn’t tell the truth because he thought the Truth was too difficult to comprehend.

I remember the young men in my youth group planning to get up early on a Saturday morning and hitting the NYC subway system with tracks and free Bibles to venture out and spread the “Good News”(Mark 16:15). When I was in my early 20’s, evangelizing was always an uncomfortable feat. I couldn’t handle the truth.

On top of being insecure because of my big nose and acne scars, I was born introverted and melancholy. Speaking to anyone, about anything brought on butterflies in my stomach and the only way I could explain the things of God was comparing it to the Force and Dark Side from Star Wars.

The truth is, back then, there was a time when I questioned my own beliefs. To be blatantly honest, the need for Jesus dying on a cross, human blood shed to forgive sins, and the mandate to accept the Son of God or be eternally doomed seemed ghastly. I have yet to see The Passion of the Christ.

I remember driving on the belt parkway and holding the very Bible I have today outside of the window while telling God, “If you don’t prove to me that you are real, and this whole idea of Jesus being your Son and having to die on the cross for me is true so that I can have eternal life, I will throw this Bible away forever”.

Deep down inside, although I grew up in the church and felt I was acting like a disrespectful child, I had to find out the truth for myself.

I was at an age where a person stops being taught what other people want them to learn and begins to learn what they themselves want to know. People would kill for their beliefs, countries would war for their beliefs. I wanted to be passionate about my beliefs.

Because it is God’s desire that no one should perish (2 Peter 3:9), He was willing to work with me. Jesus promised in John 14:26 “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.”

I learned many things about God and The Truth that I gained imparted a permanent passion for my beliefs. The Holy Spirit began teaching me and showing me things that were unknown to me. Never again would I question my faith. I learned The Truth and began walking with the Lord.

The Truth is: there is only one truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I AM the way and The Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Yet many people believe there are other ways to get to heaven. They believe being good will get them into heaven. This is not truth (Eph 2:9). Aside from Christian beliefs, Got Questions (www.GotQuestions.org) states, “Most believe that hard work and wisdom will lead to ultimate fulfillment, whether that is unity with god (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Baha’i) or freedom and independence (Scientology, Jainism). Others, like Unitarianism and Wicca, teach the afterlife is whatever you want it to be, and salvation is a non-issue because the sin nature doesn’t exist.

A few believe either the afterlife doesn’t exist or it’s too unknowable to consider.” Sadly, just because you believe in something doesn’t make it true. Jesus himself said in Matthew 10:33, “whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Then what? It’s too late.

For many years I have been dedicated to following Jesus. I pray, I believe I know the voice of the Lord (John 10:27), I strive to keep his commandments (1John 5:3) and run the good race (2 Tim 4:7). What troubles me now is found in Matthew 7:21-23:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you”

Jesus was talking to religious people. People that believed they were doing the right thing and following God. They prayed, saw miracles, prophecies and deliverances. Yet, were far from walking with The Lord, they were far from The Truth. The Truth is, “we are saved by grace through faith; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephe. 2:8-9)

Nowadays, I no longer get butterflies in my stomach when spreading the Good News. I know, when I speak of The Truth, there is hope that someone will want to know the Truth, to experience the Truth, and begin walking with the Lord.

Addiction Wears Many Faces

By Louisa Guzman

It's September. So what does that mean for me? After 2 months of vacation, basking in the sun, getting up and going to bed whenever I please, eating and drinking whatever I desire, taking long morning and evening walks to catch the gorgeous Rockaway sunrises and sunsets, I now have to get used to waking up at the crack of dawn again, plan, cook and pack all my week day meals, work long endless days, and come home too emotionally and physically exhausted to do anything but veg on bad TV. 

So after a long day at work with no AC on an 80 degree - 100 percent humidity - bad hair day, all I could think about was using that $2 Baskin Robbins voucher in my wallet for a flavor of the month cone to soothe my fried brain.

But the coolers weren't working and there was no ice cream being sold. Frazzled doesn't describe my state at that moment. So off I went to Pickles and Pies, the corner deli, searching for an individual size of any flavor. But there were none in that size. I knew I was doomed but I went for it: a pint of Haagen Daz Vanilla Caramel Cone. 

Lucky to only live 2 blocks away I got home quickly, flipped on the AC, grabbed a spoon and plopped down on the couch. 

Every swirl of the spoon made the creamy concoction even sweeter. With every spoonful, the day's insanity melted away. The way it tasted and felt sailing down my throat must be what its like getting high. Ice cream was my drug of choice and I was on a vanilla caramel cone cloud. For a split second I contemplated stopping at a few spoonfuls. But seconds later I blinked and woke up from my dream. In my head all I heard was that famous Alka Seltzer commercial, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"

Then the guilt set in.

I now felt worse than before. I felt like a bad little girl who had gotten caught eating from the cookie jar before dinner. Two weeks of walking 10,000 steps a day and cutting down on sugar flew out the window. The voices were shouting at me: "There you go falling back! You did it again! You can't ever stick with anything long enough to see it through! You have absolutely zero willpower! You will never lose weight! You will remain unhealthy and die before your time! You are an addict!"

But whose voice was that? It certainly wasn't God's. "The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic." [Psalm 29:4]. When Jesus speaks to us, He doesn't make us feel like a failure. Jesus speaks love into our hearts and minds. "There is no condemnation" [Romans 8:1] when we believe in and hear Christ speaking. Why was I feeling guilty and ashamed? I should know better. I didn't need to beat myself up for this or anything I've done, for that matter, because Jesus already accepted the punishment for me and by His wounds I am healed [1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:5].

I no longer heard the words of my enemy making me feel worthless. I heard God telling me that He created me strong and able to fight temptation. I heard Him declare that He had great plans for me, plans to prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future [Jeremiah 29:11].

I suddenly felt energized and decided to go for a walk. The ocean always makes me feel good (I probably should have just done this in the first place). When I got to the boardwalk and looked up, there was my reward: a big, beautiful double rainbow! 

A live and colorful reminder of God's love and mercy, a "sign of the covenant between God and the earth." [Genesis 9:13]. As I stood there in awe over this glorious sight, the sun began setting and created a perfect postcard in the sky,

and it reminded me that when I seek Him with all my heart I find Him [Jeremiah 29:13] and that when I delight myself in the Lord, He gives me the desires of my heart [Psalm 37:4]. 

Finally, on my way back home, I realized that when I am tempted, God will always provide a way out so I can endure it [1 Corinthians 10:13]. Your journey, like mine, may not be an easy one, but with God, all things are possible [Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27].