Spirituality

By Pastor Raul Granillo

Handling Manna.

“Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?” ― John Wesley

There is a story in the Bible about how God provided food for the recently freed Israelites. They had only been free from Egypt for a couple of months; and yet their fear of the unknown world in front Read More

By RAUL GRANILLO

“When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.” (Genesis 29:31 NIV)

Reading the story of Rachel and Leah’s competition for Jacob’s love, in the book of Genesis, is a lot like reading a Jerry Springer show in the making. It started when Jacob ended up marrying two sisters (Leah and Rachel), but really only loved Rachel. To comfort Leah, God gave her sons, which Leah thought would make Jacob love her—which didn’t work (29:34).

Rachel then got jealous and blamed Jacob for her infertility (30:1); so, in her infinite wisdom, Rachel told Read More

By PASTOR RAUL GRANILLO

“We adore chaos because we love to produce order.” – M.C. Escher

I doubt that too many would argue about mankind’s inherit desire to produce order out the chaos of this world. As soon as we are born we seem to struggle against chaos by trying to order our lives and predict their paths. But it seems that bringing order from the chaos—both at a personal level and a global level—may be a losing battle. For all the good we bring into life, we often find we may bring just as much bad.

The Bible talks about this issue, in fact, I would say that this issue is interwoven into the entire Read More

By Pastor RAUL GRANILLO

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 NIV)

In the beginning God created (Genesis 1:1). From the account of the Bible, we can surmise that God created because God is love. But to understand this, we have to do some unpacking.

Imagine, even before Genesis 1:1, what God was like. We know that He was holy and glorious (Isaiah 6:3). And when Isaiah had his vision in the throne room he said, “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, Read More

By Pastor Raul Granillo

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.’” Exodus 3:14 (NIV)

When God came to Moses in a burning bush and told him that he was sending him back to free the Israelites from slavery, Moses asked a couple of fair questions. Who am I to do this, and who are you to send me? In our lives today, we may often ask these same questions: “Who am I to interfere with what is happening?” and “Who are you God to command me to do so?”

What we may not understand, and what Moses seemed to have missed as well, is that who God is and how we understand Read More

By Pastor RAUL GRANILLO

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity” Micah 5:2 NASB).

Living in a state of peace is a common goal for mankind. Whether it be at the global level, the government level, in our own homes, or even in our minds, peace is something we all desire. And during the Christmas season, peace—especially “peace on earth”—seems to be one of the most prevalent themes in windows, on mantles, and in carols. Read More