The other day I was talking to a friend about some troubles I was having about making a decision. After I was done complaining to her, this is the advice she gave me: "I don't mean to be on of those Christians but maybe you're feeling that way because God's trying to tell you something." And I instantly thought how sad. How sad it is that we have a need to apologize for being one of "those" Christians; someone who gives spiritual advice or mentions God in our plans or reasoning. Somewhere and somehow society and even the people in our churches and community have molded us and conditioned us to have the need to apologize, feel scared, nervous or guilty to give godly advice by their un welcoming, judgmental, critical responses that categorize us as bible thumpers as soon as we seem too "religious". The truth is we should'nt apologize for being one of "those" Christians, we SHOULD be one of those Christians! Do people roll their eyes when they hear "God is with you" or "God will provide" (etc... ) because they don't believe it? well where's the faith? If you're having financial problems are you praying to your paycheck? If you're having relationship problems or health problems is your faith in the what ifs? Because your faith should be in your God! But it cant be that simple right? WRONG! It can be! we are the ones who make it complicated, thinking we can take care of everything our way or do everything on our own or simply not believing. That is what causes our anxiety and unwelcoming responses to godly advice. It can be simple when we make our mindset like a child's. Children are innocent, trusting, pure, genuine and yes simple. My nephew is thhree years old, and loves to jump off of things into my arms. He doesnt know how I will catch him or how far he will fall untill he reaches my arms but he trusts me. We need to be that trusting with God. Having this mindset does not make you naive, in my opinion it makes you strong. Having a faith where you can say God's got it and not just say it but believe it wholeheartedly is something we all strive for and is what God calls us to do. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." So dont apologize or be timid if you fel lead to share some godly advice even if it's someone who doesnt believe in God. You never know how many lives you can help change by being brave. Definately please dont be someone who rolls their eyes or turns down godly advice (even when you dont want to hear it). Sometimes the things we dont want to hear are the things we need to hear most. No mater how complicated our situations may seem the solution is simple; turn it over to God and don't be afraid to tell someone to do so.
Mark 10:15- Truly I tell you, anyone who will not recieve the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Matthew 18:3- Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
0 Comments
Dear Nonbeliever, It breaks my heart when you turn away and mock God. Not because it's what I believe in but because you have NO idea the love...OH the love, SO MUCH LOVE, you are missing out on. That doesn't mean God stops loving you, you're just choosing not to receive it. All I want for you is to experience it because it is greater than anything you could imagine. I know, why listen to me? I have God's gift of love and mercy and grace and forgiveness yet sometimes I still turn away and I sin too, but believing in Jesus doesn't make me perfect....that's the beauty of it all! Even though I slip into sin and temptation, God forgives me and is still with me. That is true love! But this God "fantasy", "fairy tale", "craziness" (whatever you want to call it) is too far fetched for you though, right? Did you know the probability of life arising on its own (without God) is 10 to the 40,000th power? Not that we need proof or numbers or statistics to believe in God. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." I don't choose to believe in God because it gives me hope or purpose or just something to believe in. I don't believe in God to have hope, I have hope because I believe in God. I believe in God and his word because it's true. (It makes too much sense not to be true) I have seen God work in my life along with other peoples lives too many times not to believe in him. I want you to experience those works and miracles because they are life changing, up lifting and amazing! To be completely honest, I'm sitting here, getting frustrated because no matter how many adjectives I try to use I can not describe the feeling of knowing our savior, yes OUR savior, because he died on the cross to save the world (that means you). John 3:17 says, "For God did not send his son to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." I know it must be hard to believe in God when there is death and sickness and broken families and you may not believe in a god who allows those things to happen because it is our nature to want to blame everything on someone, but ALL good things come from God. Opportunities arise from these situations and we can turn to God for comfort and strength and when we feel alone, HE IS THERE! That is why we thank God for these opportunities, not because he is an abortionist, or murderer, or destroyer but because he is healer and comforter and provider.
I am humbly writing this to you, not to shove my "religion" down your throat but to try and share not even a fraction of what a life with God is like. I could write pages and pages trying to explain God and still get no where because it is impossible. The truth is simple, God is already at your door waiting and loving you, all you have to do is answer, for he is the way the truth and the life. (John 14:6) Sincerely, A Child of God “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a cliché word of advice but now a days, judgment is one of the biggest problems we face in society. As a Christian I feel like we can’t approach anyone or any subject without being accused of being judgmental. Want to give your opinion that goes against the majority? Then apparently you are closed minded, rude, judgmental, intolerant… but in my opinion all I see is excuses. What people don’t understand is that it is okay to disagree with someone. Christian means Christ like ( 1 john 1:5-6), we are called to be holy, set a part, we do not see issues how the world sees issues and especially the solutions to those problems. So yes, we are definitely going to run into some disagreements but how we choose to disagree is what will really give us the chance to be set apart, to be Christ like.
I don’t know about you but I am tired of being generalized and put into the same category by people as hypocrites who condemn and judge and accuse others just because we all call ourselves “Christians”. I see all the time on social media from non-Christians that say the bible says to love everybody so why do Christians hate? I know that some people choose to disagree in the wrong way and this is why people get the idea that to disagree with someone or to believe what they are doing is wrong whatever the case may be, means we are “haters”. But in reality we are sinners too and it is not our job to condemn but to love. We don’t want to turn non-believers away because we are not welcoming and kind with our actions and words. Who are we to judge someone else and who are they to judge us? It goes both ways! It is not our job to approach someone with pointed fingers but with open arms. With this problem of having people be so quick to defend themselves and accuse you of being judgmental can really make it hard to share Gods word. It is not our job to convince people but to set an example and then pray that God will change their hearts. It is not our job to argue but to listen. I hear people all the time saying how Christians shove their religion down people’s throats but what they don’t understand is most of us aren’t . Think of your all-time favorite food, something you can’t live without, something so good that you would have to share it with someone that has never tasted, smelt or seen it before. That is like the gospel! We are not shoving it down people’s throat but we want to share its deliciousness…is that rude of us? I don’t think so! We as Christians can change people’s generalizations with our actions. BE SET APART from those who accuse and condemn sinners because they might as well be yelling in the mirror. You may be reading this thinking you already know everything I am telling you, but are you living it? I know, it has been a long, long time since I have done a blog! I have been thinking about writing one recently, and the subject of God's power has come up a lot in my life and I know it is an amazing thing in all believers' lives! Although it may be hard for unbelievers to comprehend because of their worldly view, let's try to discuss it a little bit. I just want to give you some examples of how God's power has been working in my life lately. In the beginning of summer, I went on a youth beach retreat where we hung out, did Bible lessons and worshiped God. In one of our lessons we were discussing how God calls us (Christians) to celebrate (Deuteronomy 16), reflect (Ezra 6), and unplug (Nehemiah 8). At the end of the trip at the camp fire we had opportunities to share what the trip meant to us, how God was working in our lives etc.. At first I didn't want to share, I was nervous and didn't want to say anything. Again the leaders asked if anyone had anything to say and when it was silent for awhile after a few kids shared we began to do something else. I was disappointed in myself, I had missed two chances to share what I had to say. Finally after a third time the leaders asked again if anyone has something to say and after waiting and waiting I finally spoke up about what was on my mind. I shared how amazing it is how God knows what each and everyone of us needs, how He actually calls us to go on retreats and each one of us can hear one lesson but is so meaningful to us in different ways. After sharing, I felt relieved. Then right away somebody shared after me to "piggy back" off of what I was saying then someone else "piggy backed" off of them and more and more people continued to add on until we had like six people talk about what I had mentioned. I believe that was God's way to comfort me and encourage me and prove that He does know what we need because at that moment having people continue on what I had said, when there was something previously holding me back from sharing, may seem small and silly but It was exactly what I needed to feel confident. Also, a few weeks back I was at worship band practice one Thursday and after a few minutes of practicing with the worship team, I had a really bad attitude, the songs were difficult, I didn't like them and I did not want to play Sunday morning at all! Later that weekend, I had to babysit my three year old nephew for two days. As cute as he is, by Saturday night, I decided I could not play Sunday morning because I had to get my nephew up (more like him wake me up) and ready for church. Sunday morning came I was tired, grumpy, stressed out and had so much self pity. When the worship team started to sing the songs that I hated so much during practice, ended up being exactly what I needed to hear! Every single word lifted my spirit and actually made me cry because, that my friends, is the power of God! Some may say those things that work out so perfectly in our lives are coincidence, karma or luck but I know it is the power of God. In Acts 2, when all those people at Pentecost heard their own native language being spoken, they were amazed and wondered how something like that could be possible. In response people told them they had too much wine! Peter assured them it was the power of God. Which brings me to one more example of God's power (there's just so much!). Like I said, I have been thinking about doing a blog about the power of God for awhile. Well, a few weeks ago I had a dream about a verse....Acts 2! I didn't read it until today and again it was exactly what I needed to read when I needed to read it! It was the cherry on top and is what encouraged me to actually write this blog!
Although those events in my life seem small, they mean so much to me because I know God is working in my life. They are not coincidences! It is power, God's glorious, unending power! Whether you are going through tough times in school, financial problems, family problems, or relationship problems, KNOW that God's power is unescapable and greater than anything we face. So I encourage you to stand firm in God's power, do not let anyone come up with an excuse to try to explain how something works out because we know it is all God's power. To God be the Glory! Feel free to share how God's working in your life, it can be encouraging to others and who knows, someone could "piggy back" off you! Just like you, my relationship with God is perfect and I do everything I'm told, when I'm told, with no questions....um no not at all! I would love to say that but the truth is, I mess up, question God and stray away from him. I've been praying for a long time to know what God wants me to talk about and when I started to do my Bible study and write my ideas down, I was so stressed out because it made no sense! It was random, and confusing and I was nervous I was going to have to wait another week and use yet another excuse not to publish my blog. Then I thought, does God ever move on, and leave me behind because I waited so long to follow his plan? I don't want to miss out on an amazing opportunity because, I didn't put my confidence in him. Then it came together, what I was going to say and it all made sense! (well I hope it makes sense.) I was almost in tears because I was in such awe, and thankful that God came through with His plan. I should have known, He always comes through for us, so here it is....2+2=4.
You may be thinking what? This chick is crazy! What does math have to do with God? Trust me, it really does come together. Like I said, I thought God was going to move on because I waited too long to follow his plan but then I thought wait! Isn't God patient? But how do we know? 1 John 4:8 says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." But what does that have to do with patience? The Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 that "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves." So if God is love, and love is patient and kind, etc.. than isn't God patient and kind? 2+2=4!. Let's dig deeper. 2+2 will ALWAYS equal 4, it is a constant, do you know who else is a constant and will never change? GOD! Hebrew 13:8 says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Which means yesterday God was kind and patient, today God is kind and patient and forever God will be kind and patient. Our actions do not change God's character! 2(God is love) + 2(love is patient etc..) = 4(God is patient etc..) So even if our relationship is not perfect because we stray from God just like Isaiah 53:6 says we do, we don't have to worry about God leaving us or giving us the silent treatment, he will never change! Now that's a God who is bigger than our problems and can make our big struggles seem small and will take care of us and wait for us. |