Christ is in our midst brothers and sisters! Greetings of the Lord's Peace to all of you on this very wonderful and fine day that God has made. Truly, the breath of life is a blessing from God and a wonderful gift from God. Let us therefore give thanks to God, thanking him for every single blessing, gift, and merciful deed he has done and given to us. Let us therefore imitate God, for he truly has made all things well.

For all of us, the Chrisitan life is also a wonderful gift from God. A life with the Lord indeed is the best life there is. The Christian life leads to the fulfillment of the goal of life: Union with God, and partaking his love and life for all eternity, which does begin in this life. No other lifestyle can lead to a fuller fulfillment. There are those who trade their lives for money, power, drugs, and all the other worldly things that belong to this world, but they completely neglect the spiritual and religious component all of humanity has been composed with. Some become filled with hate, and they cannot see past that blind hatred, and so they become lost, which truly is sad. This is all because they are so focused on the things of this world, that they become completely oblivious to our spiritual and religious component that we were created with. Some try to fill this component with worldly philosophies, ideologies, and religions, but none of those can truly complete that component that we have been created with. Some may trick themselves and think that they really have realized the goal of life by redefining the goal of life or chasing after the worldly treasures that the Evil One offers, and of course false religions and heresies, and yes, they have become lost when they go down this road, and they are wrong. But that does not shut off from them the possibility to come to The Way, The Truth, and The Life, Jesus Christ. They can come to the Truth, they can come to know the True God, and they can come to have Life with God through Jesus Christ, the Word of God made Flesh. God is life, and he is more than willing to give life to all who come to him. And this Life with God is what completes us and fulfills our purpose and goal of life. We come to know God, become intimate with God, and have inexpressible Joy with God, and this isn't just a one-time deal, but it is every single day, becoming Holy for God, becoming partakers of the Divine nature, and being in Union with God, which really does fulfill us. Because in the end, that is what we all want, even if you don't want to admit it: Union with the Triune God. We will find ourselves imitating God in everything we do, mind, soul, body, and heart. And this is when we know that we are of the Truth of God, and have Eternal life, the greatest reality in all of Creation.

For some of us living the Christian life, it can be hard, challenging, and difficult. For we are always in a fight against sins, temptations, the powers of darkness, that want to separate us from the True God, made known in Jesus Christ. Some of us may think that we are not living out the authentic Christian life as did the Apostles and their successors, that we are not living a rich Christian Life. However, thanks be to God, he has given us how to live a spiritually and religiously fulfilling life in his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount taught all who would listen how to live the authentic and fulfilling Christian Life, the Life with God that gives us the gift from God of Eternal Life and Union with God. There are three disciplines, all of which are equally important: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.

Prayer. It is an intimate and personal communion with God. God knows that we long to speak with him, talk with him, and have communion with him. We long to have visions and understandings of his Glory. It is therefore fitting that Jesus Christ, Lord of all Creation, teaches us exactly how to pray. He teaches us the Our Father prayer, which is essential and fundamental to our prayer life. The Our Father prayer truly is the model prayer for all of us to model our own prayers to God as well, and we can always pray the Our Father. If we do not know what to pray, we can pray the Our Father Prayer, and when we pray it with all sincerity, we will be talking to God and praying rightly, for Jesus Christ taught us this exact prayer. In a future writing there will be more detail on the Our Father Prayer, but for now, this is good enough for a good prayer life. We actually should always pray the Our Father, showing our obedience to God's teaching. And in our own personal prayers to God, we must always be humble before God, and go into our rooms so that we can have time for prayer that is intimate, and never ever use prayer as a show for others to watch. No, prayer is only between you and God, and for the purpose of communion with God. Prayer is personal, not public. We also should pray for things that are according to the will of God, not for sinful things, but for very good things that are in line with God's perfect will. We should always pray in the name of Jesus, that is always pray according to what Jesus taught, did, and willed. We should always pray in the Holy Spirit, and we pray with faith and belief, not doubt and unbelief. That is why we always make the Sign of the Cross when starting prayer and ending prayer, for a richer prayer life. We also pray with persistence, in that we keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking, all with God's Love and Faith in every petition we offer up to God. The word prayer literally means 'to make a request'. And when we persistently and faithfully ask God the things we want that are according to his Holy will, he will give it out of his compassion and love for us, for he is Good. Do not be discouraged if God does not answer your prayer, because this could mean two things: 1) that you just need to keep praying and persevering in prayer, and not lose heart, or 2) this prayer is not in accordance with the goodness that God wants to bring about in his Son Jesus Christ, and he will give you the answer as to why. But in everything, let us pray.

Fasting. It is the action of abstaining from the things that block us from having communion with God. We fast not for outward show like the Pharisees, but we fast to rely on God, partake in the divine nature, and learn to Love God. Fasting isn't just for food, but also for all areas of our lives. In order to realize the purpose of Fasting for God, which is to become more intimate and reliant on him, we must understand first that fasting is a private discipline between you and God, and not for outward show. Now you can fast from anything for however long you want. You can fast traditionally from food and so gain self-control over yourself. You can fast from going onto certain websites for a long time so you can prepare yourself for Jesus Christ. You can even fast from comfort, such as sleeping on the floor or abstaining from sitting on a comfy chair, so that you can allow the compassion of God to supersede the physical discomfort, very effective in relying on God. For us Christians, fasting is not sad and gloomy, but is rather a bright sadness, in that we learn to rely on God in self-denial, self-control, and in preparing for the Great Banquet, where Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and all the Saints of God will come together to eat and drink with the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Fasting is a great discipline in our Christian lives, and indeed we are called to practice it.

Almsgiving. It is the action of giving and being generous. We always think of it as giving our money to various good causes that will glorify God. And this is true, and not only that, but almsgiving is also the primary weapon we have against Greed and all the things that pertain to Greed. We give alms so that we will not be overtaken by greed. We give alms so that we can imitate our God, who gave everything for our salvation. The more we give, the more we overcome greed and all the other vices like it. But Almsgiving is not just for money alone, but it also can be in terms of time, energy, and help. You see someone in need of help? Give your time to that person and give that person the help and mercy he needs, so that you would imitate our Lord Jesus Christ. Someone requested for you for a specific purpose? Be generous and submit yourself to that request. In all things be gentle and generous, and in this way, you will imitate the God of the Universe, who became Flesh for our salvation from sin.

And so now my brothers and sisters, here is my final exhortation to all of you: let us practice these disciplines always, so that we may be found worthy of the Lamb who is to come at his Second Coming.  For surely when he finds us practicing such discipline as he commanded us to do, he will give to us the Ultimate Gift: Everlasting and Eternal Life in the Knowledge and Love of God, forever and ever in the New Jerusalem, forever and ever partaking in God's Love and Life for eternity, being saved from all sin and the everlasting fire that will consume all the wicked and separated from God. Amen.