Jesus Crucified: The Standard Raised so You Can Live Life to the Fullest
Anna Lovella 'Tata' Velasquez
Writer: SpeakChrist Diaries - Reflections and journal prompts on living the rich life in Christ from today's Catholic Mass Readings
Are you feeling discouraged in the pursuit of your dreams? Look to Jesus Crucified, the Standard raised so you could live life to the fullest.
You have received without paying, So give without being paid. Matthew 10:8b
??A huge thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter and all tools we create to help you live healthy, wealthy, & victorious in Christ FREE to you, readers:?
Substack lets independent writers and podcasters publish directly to their audience and get paid through subscriptions. It’s where SpeakChrist Lovenote newsletter is built on for free.?
SpeakChrist_Angels partner with me and donate, sharing in my mission to spread inspiration and encouragement in Christ everywhere, blessing billions of people.
Today, I’m going to share with you how you can live life to the fullest.
Sept 14 is the feast of the Triumph of the Cross.
I was reflecting on this First reading of the Holy Mass:
Reading 1 Numbers 21:4-9
4 They left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph, to skirt round Edom. On the way the people lost patience.
5 They spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is neither food nor water here; we are sick of this meagre diet.'
6 At this, God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel.
7 The people came and said to Moses, 'We have sinned by speaking against God and against you. Intercede for us with God to save us from these serpents.' Moses interceded for the people,
8 and God replied, 'Make a fiery serpent and raise it as a standard. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will survive.'
9 Moses then made a serpent out of bronze and raised it as a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent survived.
Discontent, distressed, and discouraged
The Israelites were on their way to the Promised Land through the desert.
On the way, God’s people lost patience. And began complaining.
That's how I am and I think that's how we, people, are by nature.?
On our journey toward the fulfillment of our dreams - our hearts' desires, what we long to happen in our lives - we lose patience and begin to grumble in our minds and even to others around us who care to listen:
We become discouraged, discontent, and distressed.
But the Israelites’ complaining only got them death.
I was reading this and I thought of the people who liked my videos on social media. How many are out there feeling discontent, discouraged, and distressed with their life?
Simple motivational quote videos get millions of views.?
According to the World Health Organization Suicide statistics of 2023; Over 700,000 people take their own life each year – that's one person every 40 seconds.
People need inspiration and encouragement. And not just any inspiration and encouragement - inspiration and encouragement in Christ.
SpeakChrist: Inspiration and Encouragement in Christ
My whole business, SpeakChrist, is all about offering people inspiration and encouragement in Christ.
I have:?
This is also why I started SpeakChrist Lovenote newsletter, to write about the love of God and inspire the children of God.
Recently, just two days ago, actually, the Lord gave me the idea to write SpeakChristisms - inspiration and encouragement in Christ that's short and sweet.
God’s Guidance through Relationship Quotes Posts
God gave me the idea when I got this tweet notification from @thesadsms but I never followed her. So I checked her profile. She's an author writing about relationships.
Her tweets are short, just 1 line. But her engagements are by thousands.
She has 151k followers and she just joined last April 2022, just a year plus and she got that many followers.
But she tweets 7x plus a day so I'm guessing every hour at the start of her working day until the end.
So I was inspired to follow her lead and try it. But my focus will be inspiration and encouragement in Christ.
Viola! SpeakChristism was conceived.
At first, it was only text messages for X (Twitter) and Threads.
But then another inspiration came.
God’s Guidance through Inspirational Life Quote Images
I stumbled also upon this user @seffsaid and he writes (I think), quotes about life.
I couldn't tell because he posts images of these quotes. I'm not sure if he writes these himself.?
And his engagements are by the hundreds of thousands each post.
He has 1.7M followers. But he joined in 2016 so granted, he'd been posting for a really long time. Oh, and he posts 14x a day! I counted the image posts.
I thought, why not? If I put my posts on an image, it will be more shareable.
So I started posting on X and Threads.?
But then I realized, I could make reels of each image and I could post them not only on X and Threads but on all SpeakChrist social media channels:?
Wow. One effort, distributed on 10 channels. What an answered prayer! Cause I've had these channels for a long time (except for Threads, Substack Notes, Ko-fi) but I don't know what to post on them. So I stopped.
I write primally, I’m an author, that's why I chose Twitter and Threads. But I have been praying for a way to grow my other channels too.
My purpose is so that I can be where God's people are.?
Going Where God’s People Are
In accordance with God's strategy, my inspiration is to distribute all content I make on all channels I am on so I can gather people everywhere into my email subscribers list.?
That way, I can nurture them with inspiration and encouragement in Christ.
This strategy was inspired by Luke 5:6-11 when Jesus told Peter to row out into the deep and they got a great catch.
It's hard work, I admit. It takes effort to post to all these channels. But that's how the Lord showed me to do things: Get out His Word into the world so I can catch people for Him.?
So I’m doing it.
That's my ministry and mission:?
To spread inspiration and encouragement in Christ everywhere and bless at least a billion people.
Anyway, I started posting SpeakChristism videos everywhere. Here’s the one I posted today on YouTube:
And amazingly, people started liking those. I've never had anyone like anything I made before. ?? Just me. hahaha.
So I know I'm on the right track. The challenge is just seeing things through and being consistent.
Standing in the Gap
Today, as I was praying and reading the First Reading above, I realized:?
Just as Moses interceded for his people, I'm called to intercede for those who liked my content, the many others who viewed those, as well as all the people on social media.
7 The people came and said to Moses, 'We have sinned by speaking against God and against you. Intercede for us with God to save us from these serpents.' Moses interceded for the people,
8 and God replied, 'Make a fiery serpent and raise it as a standard. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will survive.'
9 Moses then made a serpent out of bronze and raised it as a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent survived.
Moses interceded for His people, He stood in the gap between God and his people and begged God for His mercy to save them.
In answer, God told him to make a serpent on a pole and raise it as a standard. Anyone who looked at the serpent survived.
This is Jesus who died on the Cross for our sins to redeem us and give us back our authority as children of God.
领英推荐
In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. “ John 3:13-18 The Message (MSG)
Anyone who looks to Jesus, raised on that Cross will be saved.
“…so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.”
This is the good news we celebrate in the Triumph of the Cross.
SpeakChrist Movement: My Ministry of Inspiration amp; Encouragement
Just as Moses raised the serpent as a banner for his people to survive death, so also Jesus is the banner I must raise so God’s people, those who will come into my crew because of my content, will survive death - the death of their dreams of health, wealth, and victory.
And it came to me - whether people join my crew or not, I will always raise this standard.
Inspiration and encouragement in Christ will always be my ministry. It will be my lifelong pursuit.
This is the SpeakChrist Movement I want to build.?
To those who feel low, you will say, Chin up! Be brave! And God will save them. Job 22:29
If I can bring one soul back to connection with God that will be worth all the time, resources, and effort I spent on these.
Yes, I have big dreams:?
I have been vocal about these dreams and shared them in my articles and posts.
But I remember this being my ultimate dream from when I was in high school:
I want to go to Heaven and bring with me as many as I can.
So I thank God, for these inspirations and how He gave me something that's strictly my own to share with the world.?
To be able to leave a legacy of blessing in this world that will last even long after I die - one thing I will be known for aside from my books and SpeakChrist Lovenote Newsletter.
You have made this the focus of my social media strategy, my short-form content.
SpeakChristism is my short-form content offering, SpeakChrist Lovenote is my long-form.
These are the means by which I fulfill my ultimate dream and bring with me as many as I can to Heaven where we can be with the Lord forever and ever.?
To show people how we can live Heaven on Earth with God.
So I pray today, Dearest Lord, that anyone who comes upon my webpages, reads my articles, or watches my videos, cannot turn away, my work will SpeakChrist to their spirit, lift them up from discouragement, discontent, distress, and even death, and inspire and encourage them to live in Christ.
Now Your Turn
Are you feeling discouraged, discontent, and distressed today for whatever reason?
Take Heart! God loves you so much that He gave His only beloved Son to save you from death.
Turn to Jesus, the standard raised for you to be saved from death. So you can live healthy, wealthy, and victorious in life and eternity - life to the fullest.
You can do these:
No matter what it is you want to do in this life, it's impossible to do it alone.
Your strength will falter - feel discouraged, discontented, and distressed.
You need to have a Nakama, someone who will journey and fight with you and be your friend.
That's why I love One Piece so much.
Luffy and his friends have individual different goals but they are journeying together to find that One Piece, the greatest treasure on earth, and have an adventure together.
I will be your Nakama, your friend in faith. I will SpeakChrist into your life - inspiration and encouragement in Christ as you live your life and pursue your dreams in Him.
Be my Nakama and let's live life as an adventure in Christ as we battle life's struggles together and sail this sea of life on to eternity - the Kingdom of Heaven, our final destination.
?? Let's Pray
If you already know Jesus personally as Lord and Savior, you are already a child of God and citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. You can look to Jesus and expect to live life to the fullest until you overflow. In all areas of your life. Pray with me:
Dearest Father, thank You for giving me Jesus so I can have life to the full until I overflow in this life and for eternity. Give me Your grace to live my life in Christ daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
If you've not yet received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, and you want to, so you can live life to the fullest in Christ until you overflow in this life and for eternity, pray with me:?
Dearest Father, forgive me of my sins. Today, I receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give You my life, my everything. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Now you’re all set. Just live in Christ daily and grow in your faith.
??WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE?
What did you think of today’s article? Reply or comment and let me know what you want to see more of.
?? JOIN THE SPEAKCHRIST MOVEMENT
World Health Organization Suicide Statistics 2023 reports:
Over 700K people take their own life each year - that’s one person every 40 seconds.
People need to be inspired and encouraged in Christ.
Be part of the SpeakChrist Movement:
How?
Join the SpeakChrist Grand Fleet and be inspired and encouraged in Christ.
?2. Activate GPS:?
This is it for now. Till next week.
To our health, wealth, and victory — GODSPEED!
P.S.
Ready to be part of the SpeakChrist Grand Fleet?
There are 2 ways to join:
?? Be my dear SpeakChrist Angel and journey more closely with me in our life adventure in Christ.
?? Be my dear SpeakChrist Nakama and join me in a weekly deep dive and grow in living life as an adventure in Christ.