SoulTalks with PB

Spiritual discernment is a crucial aspect of the Christian life that involves the ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false, what is good and what is evil, and what is of God and what is of the devil. It is a process of seeking guidance from God through prayer, studying the Bible, and listening to the Holy Spirit. The importance of spiritual discernment lies in the fact that it helps believers to avoid deception and falsehood, stay on the path of righteousness, and make wise decisions that honor God. In the history of the church, one man named Ignatius of Loyola offered wise counsel concerning spiritual discernment. He calls them Rules of Discernment. I want to go through these "rules" and offer my personal reflections as a pastor. Join me as we talk about these matters of the soul so that we can grow in faith together.

A home is a crucial place for spiritual formation, where parents can create an environment that nurtures their children's faith through practices like prayer and reading the Bible together. By doing so, children can develop a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives, and families can make a positive impact on their communities. Let's talk about this.

The Bible is very important for our spiritual walk and growth. Unfortunately, not everyone has an easy time reading or studying the Bible. Many people struggle due to language barriers, lack of access, or simply not having the time to study it. Despite these struggles, there are ways to overcome them.

Practicing true repentance is a critical part of spiritual and relational growth, leading to peace, healing, spiritual growth, and a more fulfilling life. It involves acknowledging wrongdoing, feeling genuine remorse, confessing sin, making a sincere effort to change, seeking forgiveness, and cultivating a heart of gratitude, humility, and compassion. It's more than just saying, "I'm sorry."

Spiritual discernment helps us to understand the meaning and significance of events, experiences, and encounters. Noticing and evaluating our emotional responses to them are the building blocks of true spiritual discernment. This helps us in making decisions, solving problems, and navigating difficult situations. Taking the time to discern the convergence between them helps us to identify patterns, recognize God's leading, and draw meaningful conclusions toward a more faithful response.

God called us and saved us so that we may experience real life in Christ. Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) Unfortunately, many followers of Christ today are not experiencing this. They are looking forward to it in the next life someday but not now. How can we experience real life today?

You probably have heard the saying, "You are free to choose but you are not free to choose the consequences." This is especially true when it comes to our choices regarding Jesus. Whether we believe and follow Him or not is our choice. But we cannot escape the consequences if we choose the latter rather than the former.

Our desires are important. But we must learn how to discern them.

Choosing between a vocation or a career is an important matter of the soul. Most of us decide on these matters without discerning God's will.

Do you want to know more about God's will for your life? You need to know the difference between deciding and discerning. Those two spiritual tasks are equally important but they are different from each other.

Salvation is free because it is by grace through faith. It is available to all. However, some people do not receive it because of three hindrances. Find out what they are.

Last week, we talked about how you can see God’s dream for you right where you are. You just need to open your eyes and pay attention to God as He lays a burden in your heart. But what do you do when you have the seed of God’s dream or vision in your heart? You need to learn how to serve with a team instead of doing it all by yourself.

God's word is made available to us in so many ways. But unfortunately many don't benefit much from it. What does t take to get the most from God's Word? Join me as we talk about this soul issue.

We must pay attention to the quality of our experience with God especially when we draw near to Him in prayer. Normally, we should experience consolation, not desolation, when we are in God's presence. But when there is spiritual dryness, we must examine the reasons.

Having the correct view of God and success are foundational matters. They prepare you to be a dreamer and a doer. But you cannot be an ordinary dreamer. You cannot just dream about anything and then do it yourself. You need to see God's dream for you and pursue it by faith.

How can I pray when I am so busy? Good question. Although the struggle is real, there are ways to develop a vibrant prayer life even though you're busy.

Prayer is not just what we do every now and then. It is the essence of our relationship with God. The quality of our prayer lives is a reflection of the depth of our relationship with God. Neglecting prayer is tantamount to neglecting our relationship with God.

Prayer is not just what we do every now and then. It is the essence of our relationship with God. The quality of our prayer lives is a reflection of the depth of our relationship with God. Neglecting prayer is tantamount to neglecting our relationship with God.

Is it wrong to aim for success in life? Is it wrong to be ambitious? Some people feel guilty about this. Others, of course, couldn't care less. They want to be successful in life no matter what. That's why personal ambitions drive them. But can we aim for success without compromising our faith? Can we be ambitious and still retain our commitment to Christ? What a lot of people don't know is that there is such a thing as spiritual success. God wants us to succeed in our lives, spiritually speaking. We cannot become dreamers and doers if we are afraid of ambition and success. But just like our wrong views about God, we must renew our minds concerning true success.

Why is it that some of us are bored? We are barely holding on to each day, hoping we will survive every working day, doing what we can to make our lives a little more interesting every now and then. Sometimes life can be exciting but only for a short while. Soon the realities will come rushing back into our minds and hearts discouraging and boring us once again. "What's the use?" we say to ourselves. "Nothing will change." How can we overcome this perennial doubt in our hearts?

We sometimes find ourselves in need. Either we are being harassed by evil people or we are in situations where we don't know what to do or how to get out. During such times, we can come to God and ask for help.

The kingdom of God is the central message of Jesus. Salvation in His name cannot be separated from this reality. To be saved is to actually enter into God's kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ.

Some believers do not share the gospel because they don't think their friends or loved ones actually need it. Observing their lives, they conclude that these people are actually doing alright even without the gospel, so why bother them?

Everything that we do in the Christian life must be the result of gratitude to Jesus. Without gratitude, we will always struggle with obeying and serving Jesus in whatever area of our lives.

Sometimes evil people will hurt you personally. They will do wrong things either to you or to the people you love, and it will hurt you badly. How do you respond? It's tempting to hurt them back, to make them suffer for what they have done.

As followers of Christ, we will face the problems of sin, relational difficulties, fears and doubts, and obedience issues in our daily lives. They are inevitable. But if we are resilient, we can overcome them all by the grace of God.

We all sin. It would be safe to say that most of us feel sorry whenever we sin. But not all of us know how to truly repent. That makes all the difference. Without true repentance, we cannot experience true acceptance from God. God wants to forgive us, but sometimes we don't want to repent.

Worship is central to our commitment as followers of Christ. But most of the time we see worship as merely an experience. Therefore, we judge it as excellent or boring, depending on the quality of the program. It is not focused on God. Instead, our focus is on ourselves, and how we feel while worshiping. We need to understand the principles of true worship.

A lot of people today are rejecting the Gospel for various reasons. What they don't realize is that time is running out. The Lord wants them to consider carefully how they are responding because His warnings are real.

We all have the tendency to admire wealthy people. Deep inside our hearts, we wonder if we can be like them. Social media tend to glamorize these people making them really attractive and admirable. Sometimes, as ordinary people, we tend to envy them. But what does God's word say about wealth?

The good news of the kingdom of God is being proclaimed today and everyone is being invited to believe in Jesus so that they can enter into it. But not everyone is willing. They know it would involve some radical changes in their lives and they are not willing to do that. We need to understand what is hindering them.

This psalm is about Mount Zion. Since we are not Jews and we don't have the historical background to appreciate what Mount Zion meant, we may not fully grasp the full implication of this psalm. But the early church understood what Mount Zion symbolized. It symbolized the presence of God which is now made accessible through Jesus (see Hebrews 12:22-24).

The way we handle money reveals our true values. We need to be wise in this area. Some believers lose their way because of their love for money. They pierce their hearts with many sorrows because they fail to handle money in a way that is glorifying to God.

Often we only think about worship on Sundays. We fail to see the necessity of praising God at all times and in all situations. We must learn to acknowledge Him as our King, not just on weekends but each and every day of our lives. In other words, we must learn to praise Him as our King regardless of our situation.

Leadership is all about managing one's credibility to influence others for the common good to the glory of God. We are all uniquely placed by God in various places to influence others. We are all saved to lead. Therefore, all of us have the potential to practice leadership. Unfortunately, not all of us are doing this right now. As a result, we're not doing the good works we're supposed to do to glorify God. The reason for this is simple: Most of us think that leadership is a position or a title. No wonder many of us don't want to become leaders at all.

There are many things in this world that can terrify us. We feel so small and helpless in the face of so many overwhelming dangers. How can we live in this world with courage and confidence? Thankfully, we have our God who sustains and protects us. But we need to understand the basis of our confidence in God.

Some of you used to be passionate about reaching out to the lost. For some reason, you are no longer as passionate as you used to be. There are many possible reasons why. We don't want to get into that. But what is important now is to ask ourselves: "How can our love for the lost be renewed?"

The Bible uses different metaphors to describe the relationship between Jesus and the church. One of them is the metaphor of "bride". Thus, the church is called the "Bride of Christ". As the "bride", the church is waiting for the official "wedding ceremony" that will happen when Jesus finally returns. In the meantime, what does it mean to be the "bride of Christ" today?

Not everyone is interested in finding the lost. For many, being with fellow believers is far more interesting. This is the reason why many lost people are not really interested in associating with Christians. They can sense the animosity and judgmental spirit from a mile away!

When we know we are at fault, it is easier to accept when bad things happen to us. But when we know that we are not doing anything wrong, it is harder to accept. We begin to ask the Lord all sorts of questions. Often, our questions are wrong because our focus is on the character of God rather than on ourselves.

Following Jesus in the early years of Christianity was very difficult. Everyone knew the cost. A lot of people died for their faith. Others were persecuted. Many suffered. Today, most people assume that following Jesus is just all about attending the weekend worship service. Some don't even consider that as important. What has happened?

Depression is a common problem. It is characterized by persistent sadness, lack of interest or pleasure, inadequate sleep and appetite, tiredness, and poor concentration, to name a few. Depression can dramatically affect a person’s ability to function. Sometimes it may even lead to thoughts of suicide.

Some people say that what you don't know won't hurt you. But in the case of the church or the body of Christ, what we don't know will actually hurt us. This is especially true in the area of spiritual matters. Ignorance in this area will greatly affect us. To fulfill God's purpose for us in this world as His people would require spiritual health, growth, and maturity. These things cannot happen without knowing how the Holy Spirit is at work among us and through us based on God's word. One area where we need to be informed properly and adequately is spiritual gifts.

One of the most important times to minister to people is when they are sick. We need to care for them. They need God's loving presence more than anything else. They need to know that God has not forgotten them, that He still loves them, and that He hears their cries and prayers.

God's invitation is given to all but not everyone is willing to accept His invitation. This is the reason why many today are still lost. God's salvation is being offered free of charge and yet many are disregarding it. We need to personally accept God's invitation so that we can experience His salvation.

Hope is the confident expectation of future good. But our hope in the Lord is not just a general expectation. It is a "great" expectation of what God would do because of who He is. Our knowledge of God borne out of our experience of Him in the past based on His promises in His word gives us hope to expect "great things" from the Lord.

Serving the Lord in ministry may cause others to admire us. As such, it can easily become a source of pride. We need to practice humility as we do ministry. Only in this way can we give glory to God and not to ourselves.

Waiting is not always easy. But waiting upon the Lord is not an idle exercise. It's an activity of faith wherein we choose to remember certain things so that we can find hope in the Lord for the future. This kind of hope strengthens us and we are able to wait patiently for the Lord to act on our behalf.