God's Flock, God's Community
Dearest Father, Thank You for appointing and anointing me as a shepherd of Your flock that, in faith, I know You have given me. As written in the First Reading.
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Today's Readings
First Reading: First Peter 5: 1-4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 23: 1-3a, 4, 5, 6
Alleluia: Matthew 16: 18
Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-19
Reading 1, First Peter 5:1-4
1 Peter 5:1-4 GNBDK
[1] I, who am an elder myself, appeal to the church elders among you. I am a witness of Christ's sufferings, and I will share in the glory that will be revealed. I appeal to you
[2] to be shepherds of the flock that God gave you and to take care of it willingly, as God wants you to, and not unwillingly. Do your work, not for mere pay, but from a real desire to serve.
[3] Do not try to rule over those who have been put in your care, but be examples to the flock.
[4] And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious crown which will never lose its brightness.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Gospel, Matthew 16:13-19
Matthew 16:13-19 GNBDK
[13] Jesus went to the territory near the town of Caesarea Philippi, where he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
[14] “Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”
[15] “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?”
[16] Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
[17] “Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.
[18] And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.
[19] I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Dearest Father,
Thank You for appointing and anointing me as a shepherd of Your flock that, in faith, I know You have given me. As written in the First Reading.
1 Peter 5:2 GNBDK
[2] be shepherds of the flock that God gave you and to take care of it willingly, as God wants you to, and not unwillingly. Do your work, not for mere pay, but from a real desire to serve.
Here's a very clear version:
1 Peter 5:2 CEV
[2] Just as shepherds watch over their sheep, you must watch over everyone God has placed in your care. Do it willingly in order to please God, and not simply because you think you must. Let it be something you want to do, instead of something you do merely to make money.
I never wanted to shepherd a flock or lead people. I felt I couldn’t take the responsibility.
I just want to share my experiences with living in Christ and how He has helped me achieve my dreams and helped me to reach out for more.
How He has helped me live the rich life I'm living today that is becoming ever richer as He blesses me and makes me richer and richer every day.
I just want to inspire and encourage people with the inspiration and encouragement I receive from You daily.
But last January, You suddenly inspired me to start a membership community with no audience, and having no knowledge about how to do it, and having no clear offering.
But You gave me wisdom to flesh out the system You have given me to be consistently doing what I said I would do to make my intentions and dreams come true.
That is my RichLife Playbook. It's a 4-Pillar playbook that helps me live the rich life in Christ consistently daily, changing my mindset regarding who I really am (Divine Identification) and what I'm called to be, do, and have, by God's design (GodX Vision), helping me get divine guidance and inspiration on what I should do daily by spending time with Jesus (Rock Foundation) and taking inspired actions to do what He wants me to do while tracking my progress daily (24-hour Activation).
All of a sudden, that's my one offering with all my books and digital products utilized to cater to members’ needs.
Now growing my membership community has become my one professional, business, and ministry pursuit.
I know it'll be my lifetime pursuit too although I know and believe You will draw them all for me as I do what You told me to do - proclaim the Good News.
Content is how I will attract You people and content is also what I’ll be selling.
Maybe that's why You wanted me to price it at just £1 per month so everyone in the world can have a chance to be a member without any financial constraints but with enough of their treasure invested in, so they still will give their heart to it.
I Googled how many adult population there are in the world and AI says:
According to current data, approximately 65.2% of the global population is considered adult (15-64 years old), which means the adult population worldwide is roughly 5.2 billion people, based on a total world population of around 8 billion people.
That's my target population. And that's my dream to teach them the RichLife in Christ that You inspired me to live.
That the message You gave me will reach all the ends of the earth.
Thank You, Lord, for building my community for me. For giving me the anointing and authority of the Chair of Peter, the feast of which we celebrate today in the Catholic Church, to shepherd the flock that You've given me, my billion empire membership community, SpeakChrist RichLife Club, with 1.9 billion Generous, Raving, Engaged, Apostolic, and Tribal (GREAT) SpeakChrist Angels, living the rich life in Christ daily, consistently achieving what You want us to be, do, and have, without struggle, becoming God's sources and symbols of blessing, extremely blessed and blessing billions of others more in our generations and for generations to come.
I believe that and so I receive that even right now in faith.
I leave the “how” of this matter up to you.
I learned this Law of Assumption from Neville Goddard that if I want something, I must now, at that moment that I want it, assume that I have it. “I want to go to Barbados, so I am now in Barbados.”
It is not our duty to make it happen. Our duty is to believe that we already have it and to live in the assumption of the wish or desire already fulfilled. We can’t discuss how our desire will be fulfilled when we already have it.
For me, this Law of Assumption, is actually Mark 11:24 ascribed into metaphysical law.
Mark 11:24 GNBDK
[24] For this reason I tell you: when you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.
My online Pastor, Gary Kasee, taught me this principle of receiving what we ask for in prayer the moment we prayed and not the moment we received what we asked for, according to Mark 11:24.
That's why I started John 15:7 Bullet Journal to record my prayer the moment I prayed it, with date and time, believing I've already received it at that day and time, so that when it manifests in the physical, I can go back to it and be greatly amazed at the greatness of our God.
The way I put the Law of Assumption and Mark 11:24 into practice is that for every desire I'm praying for, the moment I pray about it and get God's promise for it, I consider it done and I already start thanking God for it, declaring God's word over my desire.
So when my condo foreclosure happened, when my family was saying, and even my natural self was thinking, that it was a goner for sure, God told me differently in Job.
Job 22:28 AMP
[28] You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways.
God told me no, this foreclosure is not out of my hands. I can decide against it and I can decree it, and it will be done for me and the light of God's favor will shine upon my ways until this matter is resolved.
When I got that revelation, I refused to say anything about my condo being foreclosed. Even when my mind was thinking it, I refused to say it cause when I say it, then I'd be decreeing it, which will happen as I decree it, and I didn't want that.
Even when My family and best friend, who also knew what happened, whenever they said something about it being foreclosed, I’d say, “I rebuke that, my condo will not be foreclosed, in Jesus’ Name!”
And then I started decreeing what I decided I wanted to happen regarding my condo. I started living in the assumption of my wish regarding my condo fulfilled.
I started speaking out loud, especially when fears and doubts came into my mind:
Thank You, Lord, my condo is not foreclosed and will not be auctioned, nobody owns my condo but me.
Thank You, Lord, for the easy resolution and provision for my condo, and thank You that your favor will shine upon my ways every step of my way.
Thank You, Lord, that I received my condo back to me quickly, easily, and effortlessly.
Thank You, Lord, that I'm able to pay 50k that I needed to pay within a month for the loan restructuring and the 65k I needed for the backlog condo dues.
I thanked God for already receiving what I prayed for, in faith, even when I still couldn't see it in my reality.
I've shared what happened in my previous diaries, I got my condo back in miraculous ways for the Glory of God!
If you're interested to read more about it, I detailed it in my Foreclosure Diaries and I'm giving the Google link to my SpeakChrist Diaries subscribers for free.
That's the same with my dream of having 1 billion RichLife Club members, even though it may seem impossible right now, I receive it and thank God for it in faith even now.
I don't concern myself with the how.
Abdullah, Neville Goddard’s mentor, told him, “why would you still be thinking about the HOW when you already received it?”
That opened my mind. Right?! If I already believed I received something, and I thanked God I already had it, why would I still think about how it will happen?
It already happened, is what the law of Assumption and Mark 11:24 is saying.
So throughout the day, I'm just living in the feeling and certainty of knowing that I already have my wish fulfilled, that I already have 1 billion members. And I feel so grateful for it.
Throughout the day, I'm smiling whenever I remember about my 1 billion RichLife Club members and already I'm thanking God for them.
I'm thanking God that all of us 1 billion members are living the rich life in Christ daily, consistently achieving what God wants each of us to be, do, and have, without struggle, becoming God's sources and symbols of blessing, extremely blessed and blessing many others around us.
I'm thanking God for greatly blessing me and for greatly multiplying me without measure as He promised me in Hebrews 6:14.
And now I'm thanking God that He's building my community for me and that it won't be really me who will build the community as He said to Peter in today's Gospel.
Matthew 16:18 GNBDK
[18] And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it.
In another version, it says:
Matthew 16: 18 So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.
When I read this version, I was floored. Jesus knows I'm trying to build a community as He told me to and now He's telling me, He'll build it for me.
Yesterday on my prayer walk, as I shared in yesterday's diary, Live the Rich Life in Christ, I realized that this is the empire I wanted to build. Not a billion-dollar empire but a billion-people empire.
I also shared about the Wattpad novel I'm reading right now that the heroin desired only 3 things:
build an empire,
spend more time with the people who love her
and live a happy life.
The man who fell in love with her, the heir to the richest, most powerful, and most influential family in the country, learning what she desired the most, also wanted only 3 things:
Build an empire for her
Spend more time with her
Live a happy life with her.
I shared that I realized these were my 3 desires too and that You, Jesus, were like the heir in the story, helping me build my empire.
Today, You confirmed it in the Gospel. You will build my community. I only have to believe.
I also only have to care for and be an example to the flock that You have given me.
I was worried before that I wouldn't know what to do in a community, how or what to teach, but this verse in the first reading showed me what to do:
1 Peter 5:3 GNBDK
[3] Do not try to rule over those who have been put in your care, but be examples to the flock.
I only have to live daily the rich life in Christ that God has shown me and share my experiences, being examples to the community. And hopefully, they'll be inspired and encouraged to live the same way.
Thank You, Father, for inspiring and encouraging me today regarding my RichLife Club membership community.
I only have to follow You, our Chief Shepherd, and my members, my SpeakChrist Angels, will follow me.
If you want to be part of this community, if you want to join me and commit to live the rich life in Christ daily so we can be what God wants us to be, do, and have, without struggle, and become God's source and symbol of blessing, extremely blessed and blessing others, join our RichLife Club membership community. We'll do it together in Christ.
Live the RichLife in Christ today:
Do you care for the people God gave you, like a good shepherd, or doing it, grudgingly, for what you’ll get out of it?
Jesus is our Chief Shepherd.
Love your flock as He loves you.
1 Peter 5:2 NLT
[2] Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.
Now Your Turn
(Questions to ask yourself when scripture journaling)
What verses spoke to me strongly and powerfully from the scripture readings?
What is God saying to me in these verse or verses?
What does God want me to do today?
Journal prompts of the day:
Who are the people God placed in your care?
Are you following Jesus, our Chief Shepherd?
Are you taking care of your flock like Jesus?
Join our SpeakChrist RichLife Club
Helping dreamers, like me, live the RichLife in Christ daily so we can go from being tired doubters and dabblers to becoming thankful believers and doers consistently achieving what God wants us to be, do, and have, without struggle, extremely blessed and blessing others.