Whatever. Whenever. Wherever.

      I realize that this blog has withered away, and I’m not exactly sure why. I guess my faith has had some major testing this year and I wasn't really in place where I felt led to share. So, my apologies for not tending to it. Lately I've been thinking about living out my faith (feels like I’m constantly wrestling with that), and how that should look in my life. Furthermore, how should we as the living Body of Christ be living? For me, conforming is my biggest stumbling block. My friends swear, so I swear. My friends make sex jokes, so I make sex jokes. My friends make racist comments, so I make racist comments. But when I come home at the end of the day and it’s just me and God, I feel horrible for disobeying Him. Essentially, what I've said when I walk out the door is, "All right God, you stay at here. I’ll see you when I get home." Here’s the thing: When I made a commitment to follow Jesus, it didn't mean just loving Him and talking to Him every night. I committed to following Jesus WHEREVER He wanted me to go, doing WHATEVER He told me to do WHENEVER he told me to do it. Jesus invited us to follow Him whatever, whenever, wherever. And if you call yourself a Christian, then you committed to that as well.

       The saying "everything in moderation" doesn’t apply to following Jesus. He wants all of you all the time. To be honest that’s a bit scary, but what’s even scarier is thinking of going through life without Him. So, when Jesus points to my group of close friends and He says, "Will you follow me there?" my answer is yes. That is, until I get to school and I'm actually in the situation. Because when I'm in that situation, I try to fix it myself. I try so hard not to gossip and swear and make inappropriate jokes. But no matter how hard I try, I never seem to be strong enough to deny myself and say yes to Jesus. Here's what I've forgotten: Jesus never says we have to be strong enough. In fact, he says just the opposite, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me….For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12: 9,10). It's not about TRYING every day. It's about DYING (ultimate weakness) every day.

        Dying constitutes taking up your cross- arguably the most humiliating and grueling way to die. It means that when you wake up in the morning, you tell Jesus "Here is my day, take it and make it yours." It means abandoning all your personal desires for that day- dying to yourself - and letting Jesus take the wheel (also the name of a mediocre Carrie Underwood song). Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 15:31, "…I die daily." This doesn’t mean that you can’t do your homework and carry out certain responsibilities. But if God asks you not to do those things, deny yourself and obey Him. Maybe it means not flirting with the guy or girl who sits next to you in math because you know he won’t be good for you. Maybe it means that when God tells you to talk to your atheist best friend about Jesus, you do it even though it’s extremely uncomfortable. Instead of watching TV, spend time with God or build relationships with your family. In Beth Moore's case, God told her to brush a man's hair (The video is amazing!).

       Yes, following God is scary. Throwing yourself out there and being vulnerable to His will. It is the most difficult feat anyone will ever attempt, and only Jesus has ever done it perfectly. However everyone I know who follows hard after God has found deep fulfillment in it. Losing your life to gain it is something we can never fully understand here on earth. But one day, when we all stand before the Throne of God, we will. Life is a vapor- a blink of an eye. Don't waste it.

       One last thing. My brother Hugo's close friend Nathan recently went into a coma. He has a very low blood platelet count, and he’s having a blood transfusion soon. If he loses any more blood, it's likely that he'll die. Hugo says that he's a really great kid and he asked me to pray for him. In return, I'm asking you all. Please pray for his healing in the name of Jesus and that God would be with Nathan's family in this difficult time. I really appreciate it.

       May God bless you and keep you this week. Let Jesus invade your life.

-          Mya Grace

                

Spiritual Makeover

Hello Everyone!!!

I know this is soooo long, but I'm so excited about what happened this weekend that I can't shorten it any more. 

I just got home from my church's spring retreat a few hours ago- it was amazing. I could really feel Holy Spirit moving through us when we were worshiping and praying etc. Our theme this weekend was "spiritual makeover" and how we can be fake on the outside, but eventually our true selves are going to come out. What you see isn't always what you get, but God calls us to be transparent and vulnerable to Him and to everyone else. He wants us to be so filled with Him that we spill out his joy and presence onto other people naturally. When people look into our lives they should be able to see right through our shells to the heart that loves Jesus- the heart that struggles, and sins, and lacks faith sometimes. Being a Christian doesn't mean we have it all together by any means. I think putting up a front just hardens your heart. The less transparent we are to other people, the harder and longer it will take for God to work in our lives. 

We are already transparent to God! When Jesus died on the cross he already knew our sin. He knew the sin of the past, and he knew the sin of the future. He knows how I will sin tomorrow, yet he still died for me. Because of this God calls us righteous when we accept his gift of forgiveness. I am a righteous saint who sins (crazy, right?). I am not a sinner any longer. Just because I did something bad doesn't make me a bad person. God has seen into the future and knows the sins I will commit but He still calls me righteous! Isn't that exciting? Theresa (a youth leader from church) also talked about being disobedient, which was SO convicting for me. God is the one who said that we can be alive. He created us and gave us the ability to live. He's the one who allows our eyes to open in the morning. And what other reason would He let us do that than just for Him? And to show His glory and spread His word and be His hands and feet? So when God asks us to do something and we say no, who do we really think we are? Who are we to tell the Creator of the Universe- the all sovereign and powerful God- that we don't want to do His will? It was really eye-opening for me to realize how powerful God is.

On a similar note, when we pray we need to pray in belief. Hosea 6:3 says "Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." God PROMISES to appear as surely as the sun will rise!! The majority of the time when I pray, I pray halfheartedly. Not really believing that God will show up and work in someone's life- or even in my own. Yet every night I go to sleep believing beyond the shadow of a doubt that the sun will rise in the East the next morning. How do those add up? I'm not saying that it's not okay to have doubts sometimes and to go through the seasons of our faiths. But by praying in belief we can be positive that God will show up- whether it's the way we want Him to or not. 

    One last thing- I was singing a worship song with the group when I looked over and saw one of my close friends sitting down, not really into the worship. I knew that he was having a rough weekend and didn't really want to be on this retreat. The Lord spoke to me and told me to go and pray with him privately... I was almost convinced that it was just "my imagination" and not the Holy Spirit, but I obeyed (thank God I did). He agreed, and I invited the Holy Spirit to move through both of us while we prayed. I spoke healing into his past and present and I asked that God would reach down and touch him and be near to his heart- putting all the pieces back together. I opened my eyes and I saw that my friend was crying because the Spirit was working. So I kept going and the Holy Spirit filled me and I spoke in a language that I didn't know. I have spoken these words before, but this time was different. While I was praying this time God told me that it is a prayer of healing from the Spirit. HOW COOL! Afterward, we sat and cried for a little bit and my friend received the healing that God wanted to give him. Thank you God!!!! 

    In closing, I just want to say that there is nothing you can do that will separate you from the love of Christ. Similarly, there is nothing you can do that will make you more righteous. He is there pursuing you constantly and all He wants from you is a relationship. Try it this week. Talk to God about your problems…share with Him your frustrations and doubts and admit your shortcomings. Tell Him the things that you love and the things that you hate. He wants to be your friend, and once that relationship starts I promise that He will do great things in your life.

If you have a chance, read Psalm 51. 

I love you all! 

- Mya Grace 

Hating People

I know a girl who is extremely fond of a saying.  I don't like it so much because it forces me to face my shortcomings and acknowlege everything I'm not doing that I should be.

"You have to really hate someone to not tell them about God".

Does this surprise you?  I know that there are a ton of people that I am extremely fond of and I never talk to them about my faith - and I know they aren't already Christian.  But by doing so, I am condemning them through my cowardice.

Let's imagine a theoretical situation.  Suppose that I never talk to one of my atheist or "agnostic" friends about my faith  - I never tell them about God's love.  They continue on their way, maybe hear about Christianity but never take the time to try learning.  Then one day, they get hit by a car and die.  They didn't know the Lord, so they spend the rest of eternity in torment. 

If I knew that this happened, I would spend the rest of my life miserable.  I honestly don't know how I could go on, knowing that I could have saved someone but was too cowardly to try. 

We are talking about people's ETERNAL SOULS.  That's HUGE! Often, I hear people at school say, "Oh, I'll probably go to Hell".  And they laugh.  I may laugh too, but inwardly I am wincing.  How can you even say that?  Do you comprehend what that means?  In the Bible, Hell is usually described as a "place of eternal fire" and a place where one will be eternally seperated from God.  Eternal is a long time, folks.  In Second Thessalonians 1:9, Paul tells us that Jesus will "punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and the majesty of His power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed."  I certainly could not bear to know that I had helped deny someone the chance to know Him.

Jehovah's Witnesses are often the brunt of many jokes for their habits of trying door-to-door conversions.  I've heard the jokes, made them, and laughed at them.  Maybe their method isn't the best.  But their heart is in the right place.  I think that they have the right idea - the idea that, no matter how much adversity we face, saving just one soul is worth it all.  I pray to have that courage - I think that it is something I need to improve in a great deal as a Christian.

When I was in tenth grade, a boy in my Honors Communications class shared his opinion that when Christians try to convert people, it is a selfish act.  They attempt to convert people solely for the purpose of feeling good about themselves.  Maybe, in some cases, he is correct (I certainly hope not).  But when I heard this, I was utterly nonplussed.  I had never heard something like that.  Growing up knowing Jesus is the one thing in my life I am most grateful for, and I never imagined that sharing the knowlege of God's love could be seen as something selfish. 

This post jumped around a little bit, but I think you guys got my message.  If you are a follower of Christ reading this, I encourage you to talk to me about it.  If you aren't a follower of Christ, I encourage you to talk to me about it.  Best of luck with the rest of this week.

Until next time - Bradley

CHRIST IS BORN

Remember why we celebrate this night. Happy birthday Jesus.

Love Wins?

A man named Rob Bell wrote a book called Love Wins.  It's still relatively recent and also happens to relate very well to a number of the critics that have been commenting on this blog recently.  Here's an excerpt from his book.

"A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better... It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus... This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."

I'm going to tell this to you as gently as I can.

I believe that Rob Bell is wrong, and is leading a great deal of people away from Christ. 

People concentrate on the LOVE of Christ and the LOVE of God and how "no benevolent God could send people to Hell".  The most overlooked truth of Christianity is this:

Every single human on this planet that has ever been or will ever be (except for Jesus) deserves to go to Hell.

Every single one of us deserves eternal punishment.

Not a ONE of us is "entitled" to eternal happiness and forgiveness.  Nobody "deserves" Heaven.

Every. Single. Person. Sins.

God is generous enough to forgive every single one of us for the comparatively easy accomplishment of accepting him as Lord, and doing our best to live for Him.  That we are forgiven and allowed into His presence is through no special quality of ours, but rather is a mark of the mercy of God.

I am a Christian.  I accept God.  I love God.  And I deserve to go to  Hell.

That's the plain truth.  The fact that I believe I am not going to go to Hell has nothing to do with me.  It only is because of the mercy of Him.

Trust me... I understand WHY Bell's message appeals to everyone.  It appeals to so many people because it is what so many people want to hear.  Christians and non-Christians alike would all love to believe that everybody gets into Heaven.  But the truth is, that's not Biblical.  In fact, the Bible disputes Bell's claims in multiple places.

For those that struggle on this topic, I recommend Francis Chan's book Erasing Hell.  Good stuff.  Here's a video by good old Mr. Chan.

I wouldn't believe in a God who would...

I think this video pretty much says it all. Comment with your thoughts and questions!
Erasing Hell
- Mya Grace

Conforming

The other night I was listening to a song by Noah Gundersen called "Jesus, Jesus." One of the lyrics in the song says, "Jesus, Jesus, there are those that say they love you, but they have treated me so God-damn mean. And I know you said "forgive them for they know not what they do," but sometimes I think they do." 


Hearing that was really painful for me. As far as I know, this artist isn't a believer. Where are we (Christians) to show people like Noah the love that God has for them? So many people view Christianity in a negative light, and I can see why. 


If we're acting the exact same way as our friends who aren't Christians, then there's something seriously wrong. If you claim to be a Christian, yet go out on the weekends and drink, have sex, do drugs, etc. on a regular basis then I think it's time for you to do a reality check. It doesn't even have to be as severe as those things either, it could be as simple as making sexual jokes around your friends and conforming to their other behaviors. 


I'm guilty of it, and my guess is so are you. But, that doesn't mean we can take this subject lightly. It's a serious thing...look at what the Bible says in James 3:9-12 "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." This doesn't mean we can't mess up, but when we're continuously living a life that is not glorifying to God something needs to change. 


I'm not trying to judge anyone by any means, but I think it's important to shed light on these issues because they matter to God. I personally struggle with conforming, and I have for a while. A lot of the time, conformity means that you're lukewarm. Whose side are you fighting for if you claim to be on God's side but all your actions seem like you're on Satan's? 


"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 


So, here's my challenge for you: "Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone." 


God bless you all!


- Mya Grace