Tag: God

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Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love

This is the 8th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #8, Discovering God’s Love. This is where everything changes…where you begin transforming the challenges of life into true Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment. It all starts here.

The first 7 of these 14 lessons, much like the first half of my book, covered the challenges we have in life and how they overwhelm us…from growing up believing that we have to earn the love of others to that manifesting itself in us having lack of self-love, and living out of our fears. We’re wounded by others hurting us, in addition to the tragedies we experience, often creating resentments. We end up looking for happiness in the wrong places, creating false gods along the way.

In the past 7 lessons, I’ve made recommendations as to how you can overcome each of the above. While each of the things I’ve suggested have worked for me, each is rooted in the following truth…

God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done.

Let that sink in.

  • God loves you more than you’ll ever know,
  • No matter what you’ve ever done

Knowing this, internalizing it, changes everything in your life. It’s not that you need to be worthy…you’re wanted. You’re chosen. God our Father loves you unconditionally; He forgives you unconditionally.

Photo by Laura Allen on Unsplash

God’s love is so great, that He gave His only begotten Son to die for your sins. Jesus Christ, our Savior, innocent of all, willingly allowed Himself to be killed on the Cross for you. In fact, Jesus loves you so much, that if you were the only person on this earth, He would have still endured that same tortious crucifixion just for you.

There’s only one way we come to understand this very true reality…and that’s through conversion. My conversion changed my life forever. I got there through the tragedy I endured. Others get there in other ways. Regardless of the path, here are the lessons learned.

In understanding and internalizing the unconditional love and forgiveness of God, you know that:

  • The unimaginable is achievable
  • You can live Heaven here on earth
  • There is a very specific path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

My greatest prayer, the thing I take to our Lord every single day, it that EVERYONE comes to a place of understanding and internalizing the unconditional love of God. As stated above, it changes everything.

Suggested Actions

So, how do you come to know the love of Christ? How do you achieve conversion? Again, there are no “quick” fixes to anything in life. Going from overwhelmed to peace, joy, and fulfillment, which is the purpose of this program and my book, can’t happen overnight. It’s a process that is much more than simply flipping a switch. With that, the process all starts with conversion. I suggest:

  • Do what speaks to you below (all of which can be found on page 71 of my book):
    • Pray for your conversion on a regular basis. It is a gift from God, and he wants to give it more than you want to receive it.
    • Remind yourself often of the unconditional love of God for you. Even if you don’t feel it, tell yourself, “God loves me unconditionally.” Let yourself believe it (there is nothing more true).
    • Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to lead you to conversion.
    • If you are Catholic, participate in the sacraments, especially confession and the Mass. I also suggest praying in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
    • Engage with a spiritual mentor, such as a priest, religious sister, deacon, pastor, or another wise person in your life who can work and pray with you.
    • Find a friend who is on the journey, who is willing to come along side you, to love you, coach you, and share with you.
    • Read Scripture and do other spiritual reading, especially on conversion and the love of God for us.
    • Seek out and participate in a vibrant Christian community; attend religious events and retreats.
    • Listen to inspiring talks and beautiful, uplifting music
  • During your morning prayer routine this week:
    • Visualize and meditate on Jesus on the Cross. Pray through the love that took from our Savior. Pray on the fact that love exists for you today
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #9 when we talk about FORGIVENESS AND HEALING, both critical to our journeys forward. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies

Hey *|FNAME|*,

This is the 6th of our 14-week free program, where we provide Lesson #6, on Life’s Tragedies. One of the most commonly asked questions related to faith is, “how can an all-loving God allow so much tragedy to take place?”

Not being a theologian or Scripture scholar, I’m not going to give you the theological answer, but one that is based on my experiences. Here it is….God allows tragedy to take place in our lives to bring us closer to Himself (God). Tragedy is what got me to intensely engage in my faith. It’s the thing that got most of my friends to engage as well.

Think about it…when things are going swimmingly well, when you’re “fat, dumb, and happy”, as they say, you think you’re doing just fine on your own. You don’t need anyone, much less God, with what most perceive as all His rules and restrictions.

We Want God in Tough Times

Instead, it’s times of tragedy when we determine that we can’t do it on our own. We know we need help. We often ache for someone to come along side us. That someone is the person of Jesus Christ.

I just heard the other day that prayer is up over 30%, with the COVID 19 pandemic. An article on Crux quotes Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who said, “the rising interest in seeking information about “prayer” on Google skyrocketed during the month of March 2020 when COVID-19 went global”.

I remember when 9/11 took place. Churches were packed and confession lines long, with people at abortion clinics and adult bookstores declining in number for a long period of time. When tragedy occurs, people seek God.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Tragedy Helps Us

I know these all sound like clichés…

  • God doesn’t give us anything that we can’t handle
  • What doesn’t break us makes us stronger
  • God gives us the opportunity to make a ministry out of our messes

My wife and I sometimes kid around, saying it would be nice if we could eliminate a tragedy here or crisis there, from our lives. The fact is that it takes every experience we have to make us who we are. And I thank God for all of it, including the significant tragedies in my life, because I know I wouldn’t be who I am today, doing what I do, without having experienced them. Praise God!!!

Suggested Actions

So, what do we do about it? How do we handle the inevitable tragedy in our lives? Given my experience, I would suggest:

  • Think about the following questions, taking them to prayer:
    • How have the tragedies in your life shaped you?
    • Look for the lessons in what you’ve gone through…they are there; you just need to be open to them.
  • During your morning prayer routine this week:
    • Try to be in a place of gratitude, thanking God for everything that’s taken place in your life.
    • Concentrate on the positive. What positive thing from that tragedy would not be present in your life today?
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Note: This isn’t easy stuff. I’ve been there. I promise you…as we work through these lessons and as you embrace the additional material, this “tragedy” piece is going to make more sense.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #7 when we talk about our wounds and resentments. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

P.S. Living in a place of gratitude means understanding that nothing happens by accident. The day I wrote this blog, my wife and I watched “I Still Believe” (Movie Trailer), a movie about singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp and his first wife. If you want to see a story about “why” tragedy and great hope, watch “I Still Believe”.

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

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Weekly Blog

Three Coronavirus Takeaways

None of us could have imagined just a month ago what life is like now. As of this post, my wife and I have not left the house for 10 days, with very few and abbreviated exceptions (keeping our social distance). Fortunately, we both can work from home, unlike millions who are losing their jobs. Businesses are struggling, with many at risk of not making it. All events are canceled, including Church services. With schools closing, kids are at home, putting additional stress on working parents. It’s crazy. The ripple effect is tremendous.

Our elderly and the frail are most vulnerable. While cases of Coronavirus continue to rise, the death rate is still very low. Nonetheless people are very scared. Many are in a panic, with hoarding continuing to take place. With the economy going off the cliff, our government is preparing to spend trillions of dollars, with no guarantee that it’s going to work.

Where are we? What’s happening?

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

No, this isn’t a political blog. Instead I wanted to comment on the human dynamics at play.

I think there are three primary things that have people so shaken:

  1. Lack of knowledge as to what we’re truly facing
  2. The fear that most people have most of their lives (even without a pandemic)
  3. General decline of faith in America.

Let’s look at each individually.

Lack of Knowledge

In my book, I identify the things that we most fear in life. Among the top six is the “unknown”. People fear what they don’t know and what they don’t understand. We’ve all heard that knowledge is power. While that is very true in the affirmative, it can be paralyzing in the negative.

Although the news channels are full of Coronavirus 24/7, no one has definitive answers. There are so many unknowns, including how long we’re going to have to endure this.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

Fear

In addition to the unknown, people most fear ridicule and rejection, conflict or confrontation, being alone (loneliness), and failure. It would be my guess that among these in relation to Coronavirus, the fears include the unknown, potential conflict, and loneliness. I would assume you could add to that “pain” and “death”.

It says 365 times in the Bible some derivative of “be not afraid”. God clearly doesn’t want us to live in fear. Fear, doubt, and division are of Satan, not God who loves each of us more than we’ll ever know, no matter what we’ve ever done.

I’m well aware that knowing the above (or just hearing it for the first time), in of itself, doesn’t eliminate the fear. But know…God doesn’t want us to live in fear.

Lack of Faith

The numbers are staggering. Over the last several decades, while the US population has increased dramatically, the percentage of Catholics has gone from 24% to 20%. If the current trends continue, that number will be 17-18% soon. The same decline applies to the non-Catholic Christian community.

Those who have made the decision or had their conversion, which is a function of knowing the love of Christ, would never go back to their past lives. Not only are those who have come to this place engaged in their faith, including being active in their Churches, but they’re passionate about sharing the love of Christ with others.

If more people knew the love of Christ, our Church wouldn’t be decreasing in size.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Use Your God Given Gifts

God gave you a specific purpose for your life. He provided you with unique gifts and talents. We are called to use those gifts, doing our very best in all circumstances, not only for ourselves, but in helping others as well.

In circumstances like these, we need to make sure we understand the facts and make good decisions. If we need clarity, we should seek it as opposed to speculating or relying on bad sources of information. Taking all to prayer will do nothing but help immensely.

Lastly, we need not live in fear. We have a God who not only loves us, but who we can rely on for all. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make our best efforts, doing all that we can to protect ourselves from danger. That said, God will provide!!!

So…do your best, fear not, and trust in the Lord. Know of my prayers for you, your families, and our country.

As always, please get to me with any questions, comments, or challenges at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Are you Ignoring Your Best Friend, Your Greatest Advocate?

What if you had someone in your life, a family member or a friend, who knew you inside and out? I’m talking about someone who knows you so intimately, that they know all of your specific gifts and talents, even your faults and failings. They know what you’re passionate about, what you’re really good at and what you struggle with. They know you so well and the world so well, given their vast experience, that they know exactly what you ought to be doing with your life….what your purpose is, where your greatness lies.

In addition to the above, what if they loved you so much, cared for your well-being so much, that they could care less whether you succeed or fail. They just want to help you get better. And given their unconditional love, they invest in you endlessly, relentlessly, daily, always helping you to be the very best person you could be.

There’s Not a Human Being that Meets that Criteria

I don’t know about you, but there’s not a human being in my life that meets the above criteria. I’m saying that because I don’t have anyone in my life who can do all of that. In fact, I don’t have anyone who fulfills even parts of it. If there were, I’d want to spend as much time with that person as humanly possible.

Guess what…that someone exists for all of us in the Person of Jesus Christ, as given to us by God our Father, Who lives in each and every one of us in the Holy Spirit. Our God, three in one, loves us that much, knows us that well, and is willing to invest in us as much as we’d like Him to.

It is Truer than True

The above is truer than true. Is it true for you? Do you understand Jesus Christ in the above light? Do you know that the Holy Spirit, as your Advocate, lives inside of you, there to help you every day in being the very best you can be?

If you’re like most, you’ve not thought of God in these terms. That’s ok. Assuming that you’re looking for that person in your life (BTW, that person doesn’t exist here on earth…just sayin’), now can be your time. Just like with those on this earth, i.e. spouses, kids, other family, friends, you can’t be in relationship without conversation, without sharing your true thoughts and feelings. With God, that’s called PRAYER.

In other blogs, I’ve talked about the different ways we can pray. I can answer any questions you have if you want to reach out (BTW, I can help, but I certainly don’t have all the answers). The real intent here is to suggest that the ONE PERSON who can be THAT PERSON for all of us, we have in GOD. Begin treating Him as that person, be in relationship with Him, and you’ll be amazed at what your life becomes.

As always, please feel free to contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com with comments, questions, or concerns in your life.

May God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph