Dearest Father, Thank You for planting me in my own garden of Eden, to cultivate and guard as well as to nourish me with all good things. As written in the First Reading today.
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Today's Gospel
First Reading: Genesis 2: 4b-9, 15-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 104: 1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30
Alleluia: John 17: 17b, 17a
Gospel: Mark 7: 14-23
Reading 1, Genesis 2:5-9, 15-17
Genesis 2:5-9, 15-17 GNBDK
[5] there were no plants on the earth and no seeds had sprouted, because he had not sent any rain, and there was no one to cultivate the land;
[6] but water would come up from beneath the surface and water the ground.
[7] Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.
[8] Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed.
[9] He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree that gives life and the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.
[15] Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.
[16] He said to him, “You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden,
[17] except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.”
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 104:1-2, 27-28, 29-30
R. (1a) O bless the Lord, my soul!
Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD, my God, you are great indeed! You are clothed with majesty and glory, robed in light as with a cloak.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
All creatures look to you to give them food in due time. When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
If you take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
Gospel, Mark 7:14-23
Mark 7:14-15, 17-23 GNBDK
[14] Then Jesus called the crowd to him once more and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand.
[15] There is nothing that goes into a person from the outside which can make him ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that makes him unclean.”
[17] When he left the crowd and went into the house, his disciples asked him to explain this saying.
[18] “You are no more intelligent than the others,” Jesus said to them. “Don't you understand? Nothing that goes into a person from the outside can really make him unclean,
[19] because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and then goes on out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared that all foods are fit to be eaten.)
[20] And he went on to say, “It is what comes out of a person that makes him unclean.
[21] For from the inside, from a person's heart, come the evil ideas which lead him to do immoral things, to rob, kill,
[22] commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly —
[23] all these evil things come from inside a person and make him unclean.”
Dearest Father,
Thank You for planting me in my own Garden of Eden, to cultivate and guard as well as to nourish me with all good things. As written in the First Reading today.
Genesis 2:15 GNBDK
[15] Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.
Thank You for giving me a clear life assignment that I'm to guard and cultivate. Finally.
I've been asking You for an assignment, a ministry since 2021.
When I got my dream job of working online with flexible hours, I lived in freedom.
Or so I thought.
Yes, I woke up without an alarm clock, sleeping until my body woke up naturally in the middle of the day.
And because I didn't have to wake up early, I could sleep whenever I wanted, usually very late into the night.
I had no debts then so all the money I earned I could spend however I wanted. I splurged on food for my family and fun trips. I gave 1k every birthday of my family and friends.
I had no care in the world.
But it soon became very stale for me.
I wake up, work 12 hours every day, have fun, sleep. Repeat.
What for?
I wasn't living for anything. I lost my purpose.
I thought, “Is this it?”
That was how I was 2016-2019. Enjoying my so-called freedom. Doing what I want. Whenever I want.
I was seeking God but I was doing it sporadically. I just justified not seeking Him as me being always in His presence.
2021, I started seeking Him in earnest. I started keeping a journal again. This time a digital one in Google Doc. Because I find it easier to write on my phone with Swype keyboard rather than typing on a keyboard.
I started listening to Your preachers on YouTube: Joel Osteen and Terri Savelle. Everyday.
I started to think of doing business online. I was devouring YouTube videos about online business. Print on Demand came to my radar.
That's when You gave me this message for my online business:
Luke 4:18-19 GNBDK
[18] “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed [19] and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”
I knew then my online business would be that of inspiring and encouraging God's people.
I set myself to work then. Made 7 print-on-demand shops online. One of those was on Redbubble. With text designs. God's word on merch.
Then I learned about digital products and loved the idea of making those once and have them sold again and again.
Earning recurring, residual, passive profits have always been my desire. That's what led me to start a network marketing business for health supplements, DXN, while still working at the hospital.
But I grew tired of always inviting people just to earn. I want something that people come to without any convincing from me. I stopped doing that business but I still use the products as my supplements cause they work well for me and my family.
So I repurposed those SpeakChrist merch designs as printable wall arts and phone wall screens. Made a shop on Etsy. And then paid out for my own digital shop on Shopify.
I call my shops, “SpeakChrist.”
I was busy doing work that I loved plus 2 online jobs. I didn't earn anything then from my online businesses: blogging on my own website, print on demand, digital products, and self-publishing on Amazon.
But I didn't mind that I wasn’t earning. I had a purpose. And I was living again.
2022, with over 100 plus designs, You told me to focus on writing the books You want written.
And then I had that death scare, experiencing symptoms of thoracic aneurysm.
I saw Gary Kasee on Sid Roth in 2021, when he talked about how he stopped running after money when He learned of the Kingdom of God and his authority in it as a child and heir.
That spoke to me because in 2021, the aftermath of the pandemic when my sister's husband lost his seaman’s job and I became the major breadwinner in our extended family, I was drowning in debts.
That's when I stopped running after money too and started running after God doing business for Him.
I also stopped caring about the medical scare, declaring I'm healed by the Blood of Jesus Christ with the authority and power that I have as a child and heir of God.
But I started focusing on leaving a legacy that will go on even after I die.
I had my videos on YouTube and my books on Amazon. I moved my blog to Substack and my digital shop to Kofi because they are free platforms. The Lord led me to these platforms just when I needed them. So for as long as these platforms are alive, my work will live along with them.
I've been building my audience then. But sporadically.
Cause I can never seem to do something for a sustained period of time.
I start fast and quickly, doing a lot in so little time. But then I pitter out and stop altogether.
I need to be able to do something, one thing, consistently for a long period of time.
I asked myself, “What will happen if I do what I said I would do for a year, without minding the results along the way, only evaluating at the end of a year?”
That's when the Lord inspired me to make the RichLife Playbook worksheet where I wrote all my intentions for the year and all the action goals under each intention that I've determined I will do throughout this year so that I can see my progress every day, week, and month.

Then the Lord helped me flesh out the RichLife Playbook that implements all of these practices into one focused system with 4 Pillars that, when implemented daily, will help me live the rich life in Christ, that I believe is the answer to having all I want to be, do, and have, in accordance with what God wants me to be, do, and have.
That's my one offering in my SpeakChrist RichLife Club, the knowledge and daily practice of the RichLife Playbook.
So far, it has been a motivation for me to daily do my action goals. And I've been consistent since January 1. So far so good.
Thank You, Lord.
Now I have a singular focus in my online business instead of a lot of different things.
Grow my RichLife Club membership community through content.
Helping dreamers, like me, go from being tired doubters and dabblers to becoming thankful believers and doers consistently achieving what God wants us to be, do, and have, not just what what I want to be, do, and have, without struggle.
This is my Garden of Eden, mine to cultivate and guard. My life assignment. Where springs abound to water the ground. Where You've put me at the center of.
This morning on my walk, I asked You, Lord, why You allowed the video about 4 Pillars of the RichLife that I worked the whole day last Sunday to be inadvertently deleted just like that, just when I was about to publish it to YouTube.
You said:
I want you to focus on your newsletter. You just have enough time to publish it everyday.
You can do videos on Sundays when you don't work.
But think about it, your RichLife Playbook is mostly text-based. So you need readers, not viewers.
Focus on writing. Just do what you can with the others.
I will buy back your time for you.
Then you can do all you want to do after you have all the time in the world.
Thank You, Father. For my Garden of Eden. I will cultivate and guard it, planting content seeds of living the rich life in You until it bears fruit into a bountiful harvest that blesses me and my family and builds wealth to fund Your Kingdom assignments.
Today I'm only able to give 20%. Soon, I'll be able to give 99% to fund Your Kingdom assignments in the world that bless billions of people in my generation and for generations to come while still living well off with my remaining 1%.
That's my financial freedom dream. My trillionaire lifestyle dream.
Do in me what You must. In order to do through me what You will.
I love you.
Live the rich life in Christ today:
God has given you an assignment. Your garden of Eden.
Cultivate and guard it with God.
Are you?
What is your one assignment from God, your Garden of Eden, to cultivate and guard?
Are you doing it?
Genesis 2:15 GNBDK
[15] Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.
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:
What is the assignment God has given you?
What is your Garden of Eden?
Are you doing something to grow and cultivate it?
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, totally blessed and blessing others.