"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful." -Colossians 3:15
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about my night and how I was up worrying and thinking until well after 1. As I told her all I was thinking of while I sat awake, she said some very encouraging things to me. One of my worst habits is sitting awake at night and thinking "worst case scenarios" through my head, and worrying about anything Satan throws at me. It's pretty depressing.
She said,
"Even though you've made mistakes and done things that were wrong, you are forgiven. It is so easy to focus on what we've done wrong and not what Christ did to forgive us. Not saying you shouldn't think about the things you've done wrong, because God uses those times to teach us for the future. But we CAN'T forget that Jesus took upon Himself the guilt and shame that we feel. You have no need to feel condemned for what has happened, because all of that has literally been taken from you by the Creator of the universe. The One who created you took your shame and your grave because He loves you with an incomprehensible and unfathomable love."
You see, when I received Jesus a long time ago He forgave everything I've ever done. Now when I do wrong or sin against Him, all I have to do is ask His forgiveness and it's given. No questions, no guilt; He forgives what I have done and forgets it. In His mind, it is as if it never happened. As humans it is very hard, sometimes even impossible, for us to forget a wrong done/said against us. But I pray so hard that God will teach me the kind of forgiveness He gives to us. I know I won't be able to be just like Him in this area, but I can definitely improve and, with time, I can get better and start relying on HIM to help me forgive hurts towards me, and love those who haven't loved me.
Not to say I have all these people who have hurt me or anything. But God has shown me that bitterness is a big problem in my life.
"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice." -Ephesians 4:31
Bitterness in the heart will rot me away to nothing, and I will live a very lonely life if I let it take hold of me. Many, many things God has opened up to me, and though Satan tells me I won't ever overcome these things, God tells me that with His strength, I can.
Isn't that always the case though? With Satan, it's always "you CAN'T." With God, it's "you CAN."
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Loving is a lifestyle
It's shocking to see so many churches where those who make up the church get along worse than teens in a high school. Everyone has the right to their own opinions, but that doesn't mean if everyone doesn't believe exactly what you believe that we can't fellowship with them, or go out and help others together. My dad always says, "if everyone were just like me ("us") we would still argue and have disagreements." We won't ever get along perfectly until we get to heaven anyway...we will have to spend eternity with each other then...why make ourselves miserable by quarreling while we have this short time on earth?
We were placed here to show the love of God to others....but most of the time we stay in our own little clique and stick our nose up to anyone who is "less" of a Christian than ourselves. People who dress differently, watch things we don't watch, read book series we don't read, go places we don't go...not saying there isn't a line to who you hang around...but if we only hang around those who we call "righteous" then who is going to get to those who need Jesus, who AREN'T "good enough"?
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
-1 John 4:7-11
Pretty straight to the point, isn't it? Just as we are to forgive as Christ forgave us, we are to love one another as we have been loved. Agape love, the one that loves without thought of anything in return; that loves even when nobody has given a reason to love.
Nobody is perfect, but we should try to make sure our lives are being mirrored images of Christ. Not the world, not those we call "great Christian leaders", not "inspirational authors," and not men of the past who made a huge difference. The second you put man on a pedestal, they will fail you. If each of us followed after someone we thought was amazing/perfect, soon person after person would be watered down.
It's like taking a pattern and cutting your shape out with a piece of paper, and, instead of using the pattern again, you use the paper you cut out of it. Because that paper was off just slightly, all of your other papers will get smaller/larger/wider...and eventually you will have tons of mismatched papers, because you didn't cut them all out from the pattern that had the perfect shape.
There is no such thing as a perfect Christian. Not a one of us knows everything or the right way to handle every situation in life. God is the only one who can be perfect, and He has answers for all of our questions. Most of them are pretty clear, too! We just automatically assume something He's said can't be that simple, and we try to expound on it more and eventually lose the meaning Jesus had.
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
That right there pretty much sums up the Christian walk. Everything we should do, in every situation. Love. Love. Love. Love.
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
-John 13:35
"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins."
- 1 Peter 4:8
"No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His spirit."
1 John 4:12-13
"Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing."
1 Peter 3:8-9
God tells us we must love one another if we are to follow after Him, but we not only need to love others for His sake, but for our sake. If our life is spent with bitterness, judging others, or full of anger, it will eat at us and wear us down...giving the opposite affect we wanted by not loving the other person.
I'm afraid I have failed most of my life with showing Christ-like love to those around me. I have hid from the world, instead of shining the light of Christ...but the closer I get to Him, the more I realize loving Him means loving others. I have to love Jesus and those around me more than myself... I have to be willing to be mocked and ridiculed for standing up for my Savior... My life is full of mistakes, but I thank God He has given me the grace I don't deserve, and has helped me see at least some of my mistakes.
Let us take a hint from God's word with how many times He told us to love. It is vital to Christianity.
We were placed here to show the love of God to others....but most of the time we stay in our own little clique and stick our nose up to anyone who is "less" of a Christian than ourselves. People who dress differently, watch things we don't watch, read book series we don't read, go places we don't go...not saying there isn't a line to who you hang around...but if we only hang around those who we call "righteous" then who is going to get to those who need Jesus, who AREN'T "good enough"?
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
-1 John 4:7-11
Pretty straight to the point, isn't it? Just as we are to forgive as Christ forgave us, we are to love one another as we have been loved. Agape love, the one that loves without thought of anything in return; that loves even when nobody has given a reason to love.
Nobody is perfect, but we should try to make sure our lives are being mirrored images of Christ. Not the world, not those we call "great Christian leaders", not "inspirational authors," and not men of the past who made a huge difference. The second you put man on a pedestal, they will fail you. If each of us followed after someone we thought was amazing/perfect, soon person after person would be watered down.
It's like taking a pattern and cutting your shape out with a piece of paper, and, instead of using the pattern again, you use the paper you cut out of it. Because that paper was off just slightly, all of your other papers will get smaller/larger/wider...and eventually you will have tons of mismatched papers, because you didn't cut them all out from the pattern that had the perfect shape.
There is no such thing as a perfect Christian. Not a one of us knows everything or the right way to handle every situation in life. God is the only one who can be perfect, and He has answers for all of our questions. Most of them are pretty clear, too! We just automatically assume something He's said can't be that simple, and we try to expound on it more and eventually lose the meaning Jesus had.
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
That right there pretty much sums up the Christian walk. Everything we should do, in every situation. Love. Love. Love. Love.
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
-John 13:35
"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins."
- 1 Peter 4:8
"No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His spirit."
1 John 4:12-13
"Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing."
1 Peter 3:8-9
God tells us we must love one another if we are to follow after Him, but we not only need to love others for His sake, but for our sake. If our life is spent with bitterness, judging others, or full of anger, it will eat at us and wear us down...giving the opposite affect we wanted by not loving the other person.
I'm afraid I have failed most of my life with showing Christ-like love to those around me. I have hid from the world, instead of shining the light of Christ...but the closer I get to Him, the more I realize loving Him means loving others. I have to love Jesus and those around me more than myself... I have to be willing to be mocked and ridiculed for standing up for my Savior... My life is full of mistakes, but I thank God He has given me the grace I don't deserve, and has helped me see at least some of my mistakes.
Let us take a hint from God's word with how many times He told us to love. It is vital to Christianity.
Still A Caterpillar
The older I get, the more I look back on my life and see everything I've done with a more understanding view. My life has been a mess. I am very grateful for everything I've been blessed with, but I have made major mistakes, I have hurt and been hurt. The one thing I've learned; through it all God has loved me every second.
I remember from the time I was about 8 until I turned 18, I always thought I would die from some awful disease before my 18th birthday. Don't ask me why, I just always thought I was going to die. As years passed, because I put myself in the position as such a hermit, I prayed that God would LET me have some sort of disease if I hadn't died by 18 (or wasn't married by 20.)
It's funny how things can change, isn't it? All my prayers for God to make me sick or take me home have now become prayers of thanks for letting me live the life He has so graciously given me. Even when I was little and thought of taking my own life. Thinking back, it was very selfish. This life I live isn't mine to take... or any other persons for that matter. It's God's. The only way I will leave this earth now is if God decides it's time for me to go.
"for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:"
(Philippians 4:11)
"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
(Job 1:21)
No matter what we have or don't have, we should always be content because whatever we do have is a blessing from God. It is all His anyway, so if He chooses to take it from us He has the right to do so. Whether it be material things, friends or family. We won't always understand why things happen, but some day we will be able to look back and realize there was a greater plan for it all.
I have learned many a lesson over a few years as a late teen. There have been things I was upset about and hurt by that people said to/about me that I later saw truth to. There can be a lot of beating up on oneself over things done poorly. I have said and done things that I am not proud of, and I would be in a pretty bad position had I not had the Lord there with me and forgiving me. He has helped me through it, cleaned my heart again and again...and most of all, forgiven me for my wrong doings. My heart is sinful, my flesh IS weak. The only way I can even show good in my life is through Christ Jesus shining through my life. Unfortunately, I don't always let Him shine. I dirty up my heart and cover His love with my own selfish thoughts and actions. My prayer is that He will always turn me back to Him and cleanse my heart of everything "Jessica" and make it all "Jesus." He is good all the time, and never anything but good even when I am unworthy.
I once thought I had finally turned into a butterfly...a long time coming since I've lived most of my life tucked away in a cocoon. But the more I see of my life, the more I see I am still just a caterpillar trying desperately to become a beautiful butterfly. I still have things to conquer, people to meet, and weeds to pull from my life. But let me tell you, when God breaks a person down to where there is nothing left but Him, it is a beautiful thing to see, and I pray He will continue to break me and chisel away anything in my life not living for Him.
So this is my prayer, of Lord. That You would keep my heart clean; that I would follow You wherever You lead me no matter how difficult. That You would shine forth from me and show the world Your love through one more person. That I would repent where I have done wrong, and praise You for what You do each and every day. No matter what people say about me or do to me, I would still show them Your love, and Yours alone, because You ARE worthy of everything I have.
I remember from the time I was about 8 until I turned 18, I always thought I would die from some awful disease before my 18th birthday. Don't ask me why, I just always thought I was going to die. As years passed, because I put myself in the position as such a hermit, I prayed that God would LET me have some sort of disease if I hadn't died by 18 (or wasn't married by 20.)
It's funny how things can change, isn't it? All my prayers for God to make me sick or take me home have now become prayers of thanks for letting me live the life He has so graciously given me. Even when I was little and thought of taking my own life. Thinking back, it was very selfish. This life I live isn't mine to take... or any other persons for that matter. It's God's. The only way I will leave this earth now is if God decides it's time for me to go.
"for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:"
(Philippians 4:11)
"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
(Job 1:21)
No matter what we have or don't have, we should always be content because whatever we do have is a blessing from God. It is all His anyway, so if He chooses to take it from us He has the right to do so. Whether it be material things, friends or family. We won't always understand why things happen, but some day we will be able to look back and realize there was a greater plan for it all.
I have learned many a lesson over a few years as a late teen. There have been things I was upset about and hurt by that people said to/about me that I later saw truth to. There can be a lot of beating up on oneself over things done poorly. I have said and done things that I am not proud of, and I would be in a pretty bad position had I not had the Lord there with me and forgiving me. He has helped me through it, cleaned my heart again and again...and most of all, forgiven me for my wrong doings. My heart is sinful, my flesh IS weak. The only way I can even show good in my life is through Christ Jesus shining through my life. Unfortunately, I don't always let Him shine. I dirty up my heart and cover His love with my own selfish thoughts and actions. My prayer is that He will always turn me back to Him and cleanse my heart of everything "Jessica" and make it all "Jesus." He is good all the time, and never anything but good even when I am unworthy.
I once thought I had finally turned into a butterfly...a long time coming since I've lived most of my life tucked away in a cocoon. But the more I see of my life, the more I see I am still just a caterpillar trying desperately to become a beautiful butterfly. I still have things to conquer, people to meet, and weeds to pull from my life. But let me tell you, when God breaks a person down to where there is nothing left but Him, it is a beautiful thing to see, and I pray He will continue to break me and chisel away anything in my life not living for Him.
So this is my prayer, of Lord. That You would keep my heart clean; that I would follow You wherever You lead me no matter how difficult. That You would shine forth from me and show the world Your love through one more person. That I would repent where I have done wrong, and praise You for what You do each and every day. No matter what people say about me or do to me, I would still show them Your love, and Yours alone, because You ARE worthy of everything I have.
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