Christian Gonzales

14 February 2021 Photo by Kristina Paukshtite from Pexels Hebrews 11 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. Let me share my 18 October 2017 reflection which I have updated. "Faith. If not for it, I am as good as dead. I had my failures and went through adversity years back; for period of 5 years, I was not earning for half that period in gaps, at a time our children were starting college. I became sick of my self and severely physically. I came to know the Lord in a personal way; I survived, by the grace of God; I became a Christian at age 44. I recovered my life and my health, able to be gainfully employed. I would then come about a passage that spoke to my innermost being. Psalm 118:18 The ...

2 May 2022 Saul threatening David, by José Leonardo Jusepe Leonardo • Public domain “You will be safe with me.” 1 Samuel 22 23 “Stay with me; don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.” Psalm 16 A miktam of David. 1 Keep me safe, my God,     for in you I take refuge. Have you been in serious danger? David the King of Israel lived through danger. David was in his youth when he faced Goliath. 1 Samuel 17 NASB 33 But Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him; for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior since his youth.” Earlier he was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. 1 Samuel 16 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. David finally became king when he was 30. 2 Samuel 5 4 David was thirty years old when...

21 April 2022 David and Jonathan by Rembrandt, c. 1642 • Public domain Friendship in the name of the Lord. 1 Samuel 20 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town. John 15 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. From biblestudytools website/bible-study/topical-studies/beautiful-lessons-in-biblical-friendship-from-david-and-jonathan.html "An Unlikely Friendship Jonathan, already a great man of war, likely met the young David in the palace on one of the many occasions that David was called upon to play the harp, or lyre, for the emotionally tormented King Saul. (“David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem” 1 Samuel 17:15). Their friendship began though soon after David slew Go...

1 April 2022 “The battle is the Lord's.” David and Goliath 1 Samuel 17 47 “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 36 "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God." From "Slaying The Giants In Your Life" David Jeremiah "Fighting Your Fear You may long for your fear to simply vanish or wear off, but it isn’t going anywhere—not on its own. If you want to defeat it, you must be like David: Gather up your stones and advance boldly! Pull five verses from the living water just like five smooth stones in David’s pouch, and let them fly! Don’t worry about that fearsome giant; the bigger they come, the harder they fall. Cultivate a Closer Relationship with God Yes, you can confront your fears by drawing near ...

29 March 2022 “The Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 15 22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices     as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice,     and to heed is better than the fat of rams. The Lord Rejects Saul as King 1 Samuel 15 10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:  11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 18 “And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’  19 Why did you not obey the Lord?...

21 March 2022 “A man after God's own heart.”  1 Samuel 13 14 “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” Acts 13 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’   From: Paul Daugherty & Victory Worship Spoken (watch video  https://youtu.be/TLuJ1csskow ) "Man After God's Own Heart God's measuring stick for leadership is the heart. The heart is the most important part of your life. It's not your tongue or your eyes or your ears, it's your heart.   The Bible says that God does not look at what man looks at, man looks at height and stature, at appearance. Man considers fame and influence. The outward appearance is man's greatest obsession, but God's greatest obsession is the inside....