Category: 13th Reminder

My 2019 Poem of Love.

We have all felt the hurt, the pain the betrayals. However I always find a way to make them out as mere fables.

Seek professional help and trust a stranger, share your darkest secrets with a psychological “re-arranger”.

But I prefer to trust a person’s spirit, not a certain look or credential, because who can be worthy of my trust? Who can measure up to my potential?

Maybe I am crazy, a freak that is mental, maybe it is okay to feel like a rental?

So I became numb, a devil without a cause, an emotional wreck full of junk parts in my garage.

Years of collecting and no where near curating, a Smithsonian of feelings in no particular order. A psychological disarray, a spiritual hoarder.

A self-diagnosis is what I have found, from a foundation of love which was on holy ground.

The antidote was love in any shape and or form and to gravitate there to allow me to mourn.

We all possess love, even though we feel rejected, because love is still love even though it’s misdirected.

So if I can offer you hope in this very moment, to always trust love as a sacrifice for our atonement.

The scriptures are true that we have loved darkness over light, but it’s still love that has drawn us not power or might.

So allow me to save you from paying for your cure, it’s a heart of love that we desire that must be willing to mature.

So if love guides our way or leads us astray, God is always love and He would not have it any other way.

Like children, a life lived without not even one label, a life lived blind to the knowledge of good or evil.

A life like a song which is beyond right or wrong, a life that is full of faith, hope and love is where we all belong.

The good and the evil, both can draw people to Christ, but why is it often the darkness that brings people to light?

Sadly the answers we search lie already in our heart, it’s just our inability to be still and reverend is what keeps us apart.

Received a quote from a friend, like how a dog waits for crumbs. . .

“We only dwell on the bad memories in life, because we lack the faith to create better ones.”

So what I give here remains without cost or fair price, because all debts have been paid through our Lord Jesus Christ.

– Ray Evangelista

As 2018 Comes to a Close.

1 Samuel 16:7 CSB

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the LORD sees, for humans see what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.”

Good morning to our humble family of believers which are bound by a name that Jews to this day, would never say aloud in fear of the 3rd Commandment of using it in vain.

But we know now, by revelation that UNLESS we use His name for uniting the believer with the Holy Spirit in baptism, then all other uses are in vain.

Now we can use His mighty name for other things, however we will be avoiding the sole purpose on why His name was given.

Because when we have studied all the scriptures and all the biblical stories both Old and New, we should have come to a conclusion that it was never a teaching of what was right and wrong, but of order.

And the “believer” may want to use His great name in receiving the greatest gift of God, the Holy Spirit via Acts 2:38, before attempting to desire lesser gifts.

1Cor 12 ends it’s last verse 31 that we should “desire greater gifts, and I will show you the most excellent way”,

And then Chapter 12 ends and Chapter 13 begins on what “love” truly is.

As 2018 closes, remember the scripture above, because we often look at the outside of things more than what God is doing to our hearts. And the inside of the cup is where it starts.

In honor of King Solomon, there is no sense in having all the nice external things in life, if we DO NOT have the wisdom nor the maturity for it all.

Circumstancially, Jesus and his disciples were a mess, if you disagree you haven’t been in a life group with a dozen broken men in it! Lol and we had 40!

Man, we were a mess, BUT regardless how much we looked like a bunch of misfits, we made lots of noise and guess what?

It worked! And it continues to work!

Not by man’s intellectual STANDARDS, but by the FOOLISHNESS of God.

So meditate on how God humbled your heart this year.

Also meditate on how God trusted you with adversity and how your heart has matured and lastly, how much we have drawn closer to the Creator than to Creation.

The things of this Earth will only become strangely dim, if only a greater light, comes into our hearts and life. As the MOON 😉 yields to The SUN/Son every morning as a testimony of this.

So let us be CONTENT and NOT COMPLACENT as this year closes everyone.

For this is not only the day, but also the YEAR God had made and let us likewise be glad and rejoice in it!

To the Author and Maturer of each of our faith, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Your brother in our war against, fear, depression, anxiety and everything left brained.

Ray Evangelista,

Amen.

Ecclesiastes 10:2 NIV

“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.“

WAIT!

One question for you all!

For 2019, will you give God and others FULL CONSENT to “USE” you?

By answering “yes” we understand that we will be “used” in the worse scenarios possible and used without NO expectations of receiving anything in return other than the joy it solely creates in our heart to bless and love someone.

Ecclesiastes, a message to the “Church”.

Happy Son-day family!

By definition, the keyword in Ecclesiastes is the word “ecclesia” which simply means “Church”. So to me, it is a solid message to the “Church” from a King who could have asked anything from God, but yet chose to have wisdom.

So this morning, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I rarely quoted anything from this blessed book of Ecclesiastes, so as my heart always seeks for rest and love, I opened this book to Chapter 7 for rest and looked for my blessed verse 13 for love and what I found was a clear message of maturity.

“13Consider what God has done:

Who can straighten

what he has made crooked?

14When times are good, be happy;

but when times are bad, consider this:

God has made the one

as well as the other.

Therefore, no one can discover

anything about their future.

15In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,

and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

16Do not be overrighteous,

neither be overwise—

why destroy yourself?

17Do not be overwicked,

and do not be a fool—

why die before your time?

18It is good to grasp the one

and not let go of the other.

Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.”

So as I close, I too noticed a pattern under the sun. That when mankind seeks for rest and love, God pushes maturity.

This blessed book that is aimed wholeheartedly towards the Church or to the believer, ends in this;

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (notice the order)

“13Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the duty of all mankind.

14For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.”

Once again verse 13,

“Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the duty of all mankind.”

Truly the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.

Praise God.

In His most Holy name, Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Your brother in our quest for maturity.

Ray Evangelista.

The Numeric Value of Marriage.  

Hebrews 13:4 NLT

“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.”

Notice the numerology behind 13:4

13: Is love.

4: Is about being whole or complete as one.  As in the 4 seasons and is in the 4 directions on a compass.

Eve is only mentioned 4 times in the bible and the 4th Commandment is about keeping the Sabbath Holy. 

Now if you add up 1+3+4, you get 8 which is a symbol of marriage and the eternal union between Christ and His bride.  

We cannot understand the physical marriage without a spiritual experience of what we possess.

2 Corinthians 11:2 NIV

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”

Now that scripture may sound harsh but it is a very compassionate scripture.

There are 2 parts to this scripture.

1) Addresses our hearts on what we can do. 

“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.”

2) Addresses our hearts on what we should SURRENDER.

“God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

It is God that will SURELY JUDGE the people and NOT US!

This is why ACTS 2:38 is so important!

Once a believer lets God into their life, then now God can speak life into them and now an intimate relation begins. It is where we decrease and God increases.

Otherwise, it is just one big Oscar performance. You can gain the whole world yet lose your soul.

May we clean more than just our tombs and may we love people more than things.

In the name of our Husband, Jesus Christ. 

Amen. 

Ray Evangelista

How “Love” unlocks the TRUE meaning of the Scriptures. 

If you ever hungered about the meaning of the many stories in the Bible, or if you were routinely perplexed about Jesus’ parables, or if you ever thirsted for the mysteries behind the book of Revelations, look no further, because it is as simple as having a heart of “love” that unlocks these mysteries.

So unless we can be reminded of the power of love, we CANNOT even begin to draw nearer to the Author of love which is God revealed and expressed via The Scriptures.  Which is by far the world’s greatest literary work.

“Until we can fall in love with God, the scriptures will always remain a mystery to us.” – MMA

John 3:19 NIV (3+1+9=13) & 13 is love.  

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

As we can see in the scripture above, we got the “love” part correct, however we “loved” darkness over the light.  Our love was simply misdirected.  We were deceived.

Now we all loved “sin”, and unless we can begin to love God like how we loved “sin”, then we cannot begin to draw nearer to God via the scriptures.   In the “church” you may have heard the Pastor say that the Bible is simply a love letter to His Bride.

This “love letter” is composed of two testaments of God’s love, one old and one new.  And each of these testaments have a collection of personal and intimate testimonies of how God’s love was displayed in their life via Jesus and in others.

Sadly, many pastors avoid teaching books like Revelations and the book of Daniel because of the extreme “symbolic” content.

However, once again, this symbolism should be a reminder to us that we cannot understand these love letters with a LEFT brained intellectual mindset, we have to start with our RIGHT brain where faith, hope and love reside.  REMEMBER, it is never a matter of right and wrong but a matter of order and what we seek first.

“The Word of God must first be a love letter before it can be an instruction manual.” – MMA

If we dig out one of our high school love letters and gave it to a stranger, they would most likely get discouraged on the symbolism and find little to no logical sense in it if they tried to read it like an instruction manual first. Lol. 😂

But if we can help prepare each others hearts and remind others when they were madly in love, then the “letter” now comes alive.

It takes a RIGHT brain led by faith, hope and love to reveal the meaning of these books.

The book of REVELATION is literally the Revelation of Jesus Christ as evidence of the 1st verse of the 1st Chapter of Revelations.

Revelation 1:1 GWT

“This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God gave it to him to show his servants the things that must happen soon. He sent this revelation through his angel to his servant John.”

So a good exercise that we should all practice before reading the scriptures is to do our best to be reminded of when we fell madly in love with anyone or anything.

If we can remember that feeling of what falling in love produces, then we can be reminded on how it renewed our heart, soul and mind about everything.

There was nothing too great or too small that kept reminding us of this love, until sadly, “it” or “they” failed us. 😩

But we only knew the half of what love is. 😘 and when we place our love on God first, He will never fail us.  

“The only thing that failed us in this life are the things we placed before God.” – MMA

“Where there is a possibility to fail, there also should be a possibility to forgive.” – MMA

1 Corinthians 13 NIV

“4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Matthew 22:37 NIV

“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

In closing, we cannot begin to understand God no more than we can understand love and forgiveness.  However, once you experience love and forgiveness, then you can begin to understand God in an intimate and symbolic loving way, because God is love and WE are His Bride.

Brotherly love,

Ray Evangelista

Why 13 is a Blessed Number.  

“The 13th Ammendment was suppose to be a reminder of our true freedom from sin. As a Christian nation, we had legally abolished slavery externally however, internally it is evident that we are more enslaved by sin than ever before.”

One way the scriptures have become intimate and personal in my life is that I noticed a pattern in God’s Word of the number 13.

By tradition, 13 was a number highly feared and avoided because of man-made superstitions. But by the counsel of the Holy Spirit, the number 13 has now become a powerful reminder of God’s love. A number that I now embrace. A number I run to vs. run from.

The whole purpose of this post is to simply give others the opportunity to experience how God can take something bad and change it into something good forever.

And if God can change our perspective on a simple taboo number, imagine what else He can do to the rest of our fears and lives if we can simply allow Him to speak to us more intimately and routinely than on Sundays alone.
12 Disciples + Jesus = 13

12 Tribes of Israel + Levite tribe = 13

USA founded on Christianity and on 13 original colonies.

“In God We Trust” where God is love, so essentially it is “In love we trust”.

Acts 2:38 (2+3+8=13)

Hebrews 13:8

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”

13 means love which is God “Jesus Christ” and 8 means eternity, which is consistent with the same yesterday, today and forever.

Notice the similarities.

1 Corinthians 13:8

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

Romans 13 NIV

8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

1 Corinthians 13 NIV

“1If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Peter 5:7 NIV (1+5+7) = 13

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

John 15:13 NIV

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

1 John 3 (1 &3)

A gospel of “Love and Hate”

http://biblehub.com/niv/1_john/3.htm

1 John 4:13-18 NIV

“13This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

John 13 NIV

“7Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

Also Judas’s betrayal, shows God’s love. Shows order and surrender.

“34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

FRIDAY the 13th

“For the believer, Friday 13 (of the month of nisan) is the day where the Christ is dead on the Cross; it is also a Friday 13, day placed under the sign of Venus, that Eve, tempted by the demon, made eat an apple to Adam, what entailed their expulsion of the terrestrial Paradise. God being indeed rested the seventh day of the Creation, first Saturday (Sabbath of the Jews) was this day. The next week there had therefore a Friday 13, day of the original sin, since they was redeemed an other Friday 13, that the death of the Christ. Particularly the Jewish Passover was the 14 of the month of nisan, and the Crucifixion took place the day before the Sabbath of Passover, therefore a Friday 13.”

The Sun and Earth in Math

The relationship between the volume of the Earth and that of the Sun is approximately 13 times a power of 10, that is to say 1 / (13.01 x 10E5) to be precise.

The number 13 would be in a certain manner in correlation with our Earth planet which is called in Hebrew Eretz and that is written aleph, resh and tzade. The letter tzade put at the end of a word has not 90 but 900 as value. The numeral value gives therefore 1+200+900=1101. This number, interpreted in the mathematical base two (binary) is equivalent to the number 13 in the decimal base.

In the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus uses the whole 13 comparisons or titles to designate who he is really:

I am the Bread (Jn 6,35 and 6,48 and 6,51)

I am the Light (Jn 8,12 and 9,5)

I am the Gate (Jn 10,7 and 10,9)

I am the Good Shepherd (Jn 10,11 and 10,14)

I am the Resurrection (Jn 11,25)

I am the Way (Jn 14,6)

I am the Truth (Jn 14,6)

I am the Life (Jn 14,6)

I am the Vine (Jn 15,5)

I am the King (Jn 18,37 and 19,21)

I am Son of God (Jn 10,36)

I am in the Father (Jn 14,10 and 14,11 and 14,20 and 17,8)

I am (Jn 8,24 and 8,28 and 8,58 and 13,19)

Proverbs 13:12

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Faith vs Hope)

(Verse 8:God is love)

“7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4 NIV (1+4+8 = 13)

1 John 5:13

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
II Corinthians 13:14

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

If we go to the third chapter of Exodus verse 13,

Moses had a foreshadow of the importance of the “name” of God.

Exodus 3:13

“Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?

14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”

Ephesians 4:13

“13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 (2+3+1+7=13)

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

John 8:32 (8+3+2=13)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

http://www.virtuescience.com/13.html

1 Peter 4:8 (1+4+8=13)
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Romans 10:13

“for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Here are a couple of 13 reminders in ONE verse!

In Matthew, Peter asked Jesus for a left brain answer for a right brain issue.

Here, Jesus actually gives a rare left brain answer in a numeric mathematical format.

In summary, Peter asked Jesus in verse 21,

“Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?

Matthew 18:22 NLT (1+8+2+2=13)

“”No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!”

Now if we solve this mathematical riddle Jesus gave, the answer is 490.

Now someone who is LEFT brained would take this literal and keep score! Lol

But I believe there is another meaning behind this 490.

Jesus may have given a left brain answer, but there was a RIGHT BRAIN reminder hidden in there.

Because although 70×7 is equal to

490(4+9+0=13) ❤️

And there you have it, 13 is LOVE and it all somehow always equates to love.

BTW

1 Corinthians 13:5

“Love . . keeps no record of wrongs.”

So no need to keep count Peter! Lol

Finally, a 13th REMINDER in His Name.

Jesus Christ

Initials: J C

J=10

C=3

J+C= 13

Science, literature and all what eventually became written are just symbols of what is already expressed in nature.
It all points to God. But it takes faith to make that connection, but once that connection is made, then you become truly free.

Romans 1:20 NLT

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

Brotherly love,

Ray Evangelista