The Best You! By Jonathan

It’s very important to me. I think it’s important to God for me too. That I stand up for myself once in my life. I am not a victim. Satan must know this. You must know this. Name of God! You must know that God wants more from us, the Children of God, than to simply sulk and kick back as offences come. We are not called ultimately to martyrdom, Church. We are called to be witnesses! Witnesses with our lives. And our lives can glorify in glory! This same Gospel that says that money is the devil has deluded so many poor people. I think that the anti-prosperity Gospel is just as dangerous as the prosperity Gospel. That Christian theology that calls us to poverty. Certainly, there are those who have a vocation in this. God bless them! I know there will be some to say that what I am saying is prosperity Gospel. That God desires our happiness. I assure you that it is not. But who are we to argue if God wants us to be rich? With this money, likewise, with the love of God in our hearts, we can help so many people! This is ultimately where the integrity of charity has fruit. Not in paying taxes to a state that it may distribute those resources to people in need. Real charity is in personally helping the poor, the mentally ill, the suffering. The point is not only that God wants us to be happy. God wants us to live happy, holy, successful and fruitful lives. He desires for us to yearn and strive for more. Not materially, necessarily. But He wants us to be the very best versions of us that we can be! God doesn’t want us to suffer. Jesus. Who is filling your head with this nonsense? Yes, suffering certainly comes. But for us to be able to withstand the hard times, we need memories of good times, of love and of joy. If our entire lives are sorrow, what does this say about God? What does this say about the transformation He has created in us? About who He has called us to be? And I think that if our lives are purely sorrow, even with Jesus, final perseverance is going to take a super-heroic act of the will. The saints are evidence of glory in suffering. Well, we need a new sainthood. We need saints who live well now. That's tough. I glory in and cherish, myself, every saint who I have met in Tradition. They have merited their places of glory! Surely! And their heavenly glory is a crown for them as well as for us. All, I want you to see is that the examples of the lives of the saints are not the only way. It's true, along with faith, comes persecution. I know you are all frightened. God hold you, wrap you up in His glorious embrace and rock you calmly to the flowing melody of the rivers of Christ's precious blood all around you. Words! They mean nothing. But God's got you. Maybe it is a dream. Maybe it is a matter of what I can see that others cannot. This vision of the world as it can be pounds in my mind, my heart, crying to be a reality. I see a world where at the very least, Christians are treasured. God, Yahweh, have your way. Still, even in a world of terrible persecution, God still desires our good. He only makes the best of the trouble for the sake of His justice, which is coming. Lord, have mercy. Simply and purely common sense, folk. I am thankful for the vindication of God. Jesus, who convinced you God is a masochist? You have the gods reversed. Satan is the one who wants us to suffer. Even the worst of sinners. Jesus, is it really difficult still to see this? Name of God!