Grace Through Faith

I don’t watch much television, but the other day I came across a heart felt conversation between two women. After a moment or so I heard one of the women say, “God loves everyone.”

Great, nice to hear that there is God being brought up, especially on regular TV….seems like a lot less these days. So, when I heard God mentioned I think I started paying a little more attention. Kinda like your Christian radar or spiritual discernement antenna popped up. I also noticed what looked like it could be the Holy Bible on her lap. My first thought was wow, it’s not even on a Christian channel and the networks are letting her converse about God. She spoke of Gods love and how he doesn’t want us to suffer. She mentioned how each one of us is on our own spiritual journey with God. Okay, I agree with that, not all are drinking milk, not all are eating solid food.

So then she says, “We all will find our own truth wherever that may be, and there is no such thing as sin, because we are who we are as people. God will not judge anyone, he loves everyone and all people will be together. Love and do for others because we are all connected.” Not quoted perfectly but basically her words. Okay, at this point one eyebrow lifted, and I had that confused look on my face and thought ‘huh?’ that didn’t sound quite right. Now my brain is scanning from the deep recesses of what beliefs I have heard of, from various denominations. Nothing was coming through, until I heard that she was a member of the Universal church. Now for some who don’t know what this church beliefs are you can Google it and read some of their belief statements, I can’t speak precisely what each church teaches, so you decide. But in a nutshell from what I understand, members may include Buddhists, Christians, Agnostics, Islamist, and a variety of any other world religions, or no religions. All people from everywhere are welcome to experience God or your spiritual deity at whatever spiritual journey you are inclined to be on. Whatever you believe is okay with them.

Does this sound like anything we have heard of? It reminds me of the One World Religion idea. I am not accusing this particular religion, or non religion as being associated with future prophecies, but it really is misleading to new Christians, and seems like a confused mess. They pride themselves on not being caught up in the traditional ‘dogma’ as they call it of the regular Christian churches. Well, they don’t have to worry about that!

Normally I don’t try to talk good or bad about denominations or pick through their certain beliefs as being scriptural or non scriptural, there is always room for debate. However, if anyone claiming in the name of God that people should not be concerned with sin, seems negligent at best. The idea that through just good works you too will have eternity in heaven can really confuse some people.

I know in this day and age people are wanting to believe that every single human being who is good and kind gets to go to heaven. It’s hard to imagine that a God who loves so deeply could possible allow anyone to suffer in death. There are also people who believe that God will understand and not judge us, because he loves so much. First, I would never say this person or that person is or is not going, God judges an knows each persons heart not me. But we can look to see what scripture says about what is expected of us to enter the kingdom.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  (9)  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

God loves us so much that by grace (in his favor) we were given a way to receive salvation through faith. Faith in who? Jesus Christ. ‘Not of Works’ means that if you believe that being good will get you to heaven, then how good do you have to be? What is the measurement of goodness to satisfy God to where you are approved? You can’t receive salvation on your own merit. You can only receive it through Jesus Christ according to God.

1 Timothy 2:5 For God is one, and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation concerning our sins.

Without the grace of God, the faith we have in Christ, and the repentance of our sins, we are not fit for the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is to spend eternity with God, who we love and he loves us, worshiping Him and praising Him. If you do not know God nor love Him, why would you want to spend eternity with Him? If Christ was not needed for salvation then Christ died for nothing. God sent him for nothing, and Jesus’ was a liar.

Those who inherit the Kingdom;

Matthew 10:32-33 Then everyone who shall confess Me before men, I will confess him before My Father who is in Heaven.  (33)  But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in Heaven. (These two verses that Jesus spoke will help keep you grounded and remind you to stand up for Christ and your faith)

Romans 10:9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. (Confess that Christ is your savior and have faith and believe that God raised him up conquering death)

Matthew 5:20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (They pretended to have righteousness but their hearts were not right with God)

There are numerous other verses, starting in the Old Testament. Too many to post, but if you cannot understand the need for Jesus, then you need to start reading the Bible, starting with Genesis.

Who will not inherit the Kingdom;

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. (If you love Christ you will follow his commandments or teachings and be a person who puts God first)

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  (10)  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (The unrighteous are those who have not repented or received forgiveness of those sins. If a person does not ask for forgiveness then the sins remain. Nothing sinful can enter heaven.)

John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (If you do not believe that Jesus IS the son of God, you will perish)

Matthew 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Because he trusts more in his riches than God, money comes first for this person)

Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (This goes back to the above verses, you can only be written in the lambs, or Christ, Book of Life, because you are one of His sheep. You are one of Gods children, the elect, the church.)

Being a Christian means being Christ-like. It means letting him lead us and we are to follow his example. We are to strive daily to be like Him, (good works) because we are following his example. We are expected to do good works NOT for salvation, but because this glorifies the Father in heaven. There are many verses that explain that being a Christian is becoming a ‘new’ person in Christ. I am thankful that because of Gods love (grace) that I am able to have the forgiveness of my sins through Christ. God does not wish that anyone person should spend eternity without Him, but He also tells us through the scriptures what we must do in order to be saved.

Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Losing Faith

Are you struggling with your faith towards God? Are you losing the fire that you once had because you either think he is not listening, he’s abandoned you or not delivering? If you answered yes, then I hope my message today might give you some comfort.

There are times in a Christians life, maybe because of hardships or disappointments that causes us to question God. We may ask God why did he allow this or that to happen. “Why God did you not help me when I needed it, or someone else needed it?” Some may lose faith so much that they allow Satan’s influence on the world to cause them to even doubt if God is really there.

We need to first look at what causes a person to start losing faith in the first place. God is the same as he has always been, so the change starts in us. The faith that we are losing starts because of something unpleasant that happened, or we expected something to happen and it didn’t. Whatever it was that occurred, we start thinking God must not care. My life is falling apart, where is God?

For the believer, he is right there beside you, he has not left you. The Holy Spirit dwells inside you to comfort you, to help you. God loves you, he knows you may be questioning why he allows some things to take place and not others, but that is when you pick up the Bible and you will find the answers.

First, what exactly is faith? Faith is hope, hope in God that no matter what happens in your life he will always be there. God is so incredible, that we cannot possibly know what God has planned for our lives. God allows some things to happen or not happen to teach us, to better our circumstances down the road, or sometimes to get our attention.

Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

We have faith that there is a God, there is his son who died for us, there is a heaven, and there is the promise of salvation when we accept it. Understand that faith in God should not be guided by what we believe God should deliver. God is not a slot machine, where we put prayers in and hope to hit the jackpot. We have faith and hope that no matter what we believe he loves us and want’s the best for us. God sometimes may even test your faith, he certainly tested the apostles and their faith.

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

When we pray, we need to pray that it’s God’s will and not our own, that is important. He knows our hearts, watched us grow from birth, and witnesses daily what goes on in our lives. God knows us and our situations better than we know ourselves. So how can we question him? When things arise in our lives that frustrates us, we ask God to help us understand, or get through it. God does things in his own time and in his own ways, and for reasons we may not always understand. Learning to let go and not trying to feel the need to control everything was a big lesson for me personally. Allow God to be first in your life and let him be in control, will allow you to have complete faith in him. Sometimes when we start questioning or doubting we have to ask ourselves, are we looking at the glass half empty or half full? Ask yourself, if God allowed this to happen in my life, what is it God is trying to say? Look to see if there are positive things that could come out of your circumstance. Is God trying to show or tell you something?

There was a time in my life where my husband was laid off from work. We were struggling financially and wondering where the rent was going to come from. I had just finished paying off my car, that I had originally purchased before we were married and quite proud that it was in excellent condition. That month times were so hard we decided it would be best to put the car up for sale. I was upset, but I knew that was the only thing we could do to help our situation, and with two children you do what you have to do. I was in church, studying God’s Word daily and felt a great relationship to God. Yet, I questioned him. Why God why? What is going to happen when the money runs out? I worked so hard to pay off that car. I was worried, wondering how to deal with everything, I was trying to figure out a way to be in control. Yet, I wasn’t in control, everything was going out of control. I wondered where was God? All this loyalty and faith daily I gave to him, so why the hardships?

Then I stopped and thought, wait a minute, God must be trying to keep me humble, or maybe he was testing my faith, maybe he had something better in mind for me. We are told that just because we become a Christian, does not mean we won’t have troubles. I didn’t want to lose faith and fail God’s test if he was testing me. So I changed in my mind and heart, how I felt about the situation. Looking at the glass half full, instead of half empty. With the car sold, I could pay rent, buy food, and maybe pay a few bills. I continued in God’s Word, and thanked him for changing my heart, and how I saw my circumstance. I thanked him, because I knew things could be worse. I gave up the control I never really had and allowed God’s spirit to pour over me and give peace to my heart.

After putting the car for sale, it sold quickly at a price better than expected. It was enough that we even had extra money to set aside. My husband was back working two weeks later. And in that time he was off, he got projects done around the house…yea. And we actually enjoyed our family time together, almost like a small vacation. He had been working so hard, we were all so busy, we hadn’t spent much family time together. A week or so after getting back to work, he met a man who had told him about an auto dealership who gave him a great deal. A few weeks later, my husband brought home a used car, that was better mileage and newer than what I had to begin with. So, allow God to control things, having faith in him that whatever comes we will all be okay, because he won’t leave you. Yes, I had to sell my car, but what came out of it? We all still had a roof over our heads even though my husband was laid off. Bills were paid, there was food in the house, we had extra money for a down payment on another car, we were able to spend quality time together as a family and my faith grew stronger in God. In that circumstance, God blessed me quickly, but that hasn’t always been the case. But since then, I have learned to let go and I have strong faith that God has a plan.

Heb 11:1-34  - (1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a good report.

(3)  By faith we understand that the ages were framed by a word of God, so that the things being seen not to have come into being out of the things that appear.

(4)  By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it he, being dead, yet speaks.

(5)  By faith Enoch was translated so as not to see death, and he was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

(6) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

(7)  By faith Noah, having been warned by God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

(8) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into a place which he was afterward going to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he went.

(9) By faith he lived in the land of promise as a stranger, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of the same promise with him. (10)  For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

(11) By faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him who had promised to be faithful. (12)  Because of this came into being from one, and that of one having died, even as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

(13) These all died by way of faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. And they were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (14) For they who say such things declare plainly that they seek a fatherland. (15) And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

(16) But now they stretch forth to a better fatherland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

(17) By faith Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, (18) of whom it was said that in Isaac your Seed shall be called, (19) concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from where he even received him, in a figure.

(20) By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. (21) By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff. (22) By faith, Joseph dying remembered concerning the Exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.

(23) By faith Moses, having been born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child. And they were not afraid of the king’s commandments. (24)  Having become great, Moses by faith refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, (26) esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

(27) By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. (28) Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest He who destroyed the first-born should touch them. (29) By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians attempting to do were drowned.

(30) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed seven days. (31) By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. (32) And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah; also David, and Samuel and the prophets, (33) who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, (34) quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the strangers.

When we are struggling we need to run to God, not away from Him. We can’t find the peace we are seeking by separating ourselves from God. If a person loses their home even after praying to God to keep it, would you love God any less? Would you love God less if he doesn’t give you that raise from your job? Would you love God less if he allowed you to have an illness? Loving God regardless of your situation is also having faith that no matter what your love for God is immovable. If you strayed or did something that didn’t please God, would God love you less? No, Gods love will remain with you even giving you forgiveness when you seek it. If God can still be there for us no matter what, then we should certainly believe and have faith in Him. Hard times will come and go throughout our lives, but our faith in God allows us to get through them with peace in our hearts, knowing God is in control.

Edited Reposting

Living To Die

When I was a kid I was told by my mother how wonderful heaven is. She told me the story of the pearly gates, the golden streets and God who is full of love, lighting everything with his presence. This vision of heaven sounded wonderful, as a kid I imagined I could paint the sky with my watercolors and play an instrument like Mozart. Maybe eat ice cream all day and have as many pets as I wanted. As a grown up I still like to imagine heaven, but my perception has changed a little. I imagine seeing loved ones who have passed on, and living an eternity with the fullness of Gods love. Worshiping God, singing in the heavenly choir and living pain free. When I read the scriptures giving us an idea of what it is like, the one verse that really stands out for me…

Revelation 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

I think about all the suffering and hardships so many people are going through. With so many people having illnesses, foreclosures on their homes and families broken, it makes you think about heaven more and more. It’s easy when we are hurting to get caught up in the thoughts of dieing.

Everyone living will have hardships in their lives. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, what race, what gender, what age, we all will have rough periods and we will all have to make decisions how to get through. All the struggles we face is not our creator holding a personal vendetta against us, it’s just life. The difference is not what we are going through, but how we perceive the experience and how we get through it.

You ever hear of the expression, ‘Are you looking at the glass half full or half empty?’ Some people who experience what we call life, hold on to every single hardship they have ever had and struggle when it comes to living in the joy of life. They take in all the pain that life dishes out and seek out others who are struggling too. Sometimes they thrive on soaking up all the drama like a sponge, from not just their own problems but every one else’s too. When a person lives this way they often get physical illnesses from the stress, which they also include into their already suffering state. This type of person is probably looking at the glass half empty. They pray and pray and hope one day that God will end their suffering by giving them nothing but blessed days for the rest of their life on Earth or cling to Christs return at any moment. They watch the news and obsess with the 2012 latest prophecies, or look for signs in the world of Christ returning soon. They have a hard time trying to see the joys or blessings in their own life. They live for each moment that bad news comes and if something positive happens, they look for the negative aspects and it becomes a revolving door. Having hardships and getting upset is natural, but if most of what you are getting out of life seems negative, then maybe a check on your perception of those instances is worth looking into.

I myself am no stranger to sadness, tragedy or problems, but I do try to spend more time focusing on the glass half full. When problems strike my life, I first assess how bad is the problem? Is the problem really worth getting upset over? Is it really that big of a deal or could there be a positive way to rectify the situation? I pray about it. I ask the Father for guidance to help me understand where he wants me to go with this issue. What is the Father trying to show me, or what does He want me to learn? Is the Lord trying to get my attention for me to help someone else because of it? Sometimes we make decisions that when we don’t go to God with it first, leads us into making bad decisions which later we learn the hard way. With every experience it really is an opportunity to learn from it. If you are stressing about something, it’s because of your perception of the situation that leads you to choose to be stressed. You choose to let a problem stress and consume you. Or you can decide that the problem will not take a hold and stress you out by letting go of it and live to learn from whatever life brings you. You can choose to take the problem to God and let God handle what you probably never had control of anyway.

Luke 12:25  And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If we have God, then we must have faith and trust in knowing that He is in control.

Most of us will not see our hundredth birthday, and one hundred years really isn’t a long time. We were given a gift to be here at this time and a gift in knowing God while we are here. We have such a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow spiritually in the Lord and grow as a person, not just for our own benefit but for others. As a Christian, if we are so wrapped up in our own misfortunes, then how can we be of service to anyone else? We are to be a light, so that others can see the love and joy that only the Lord can bring. We are blessed because through everything we are not alone. When I pass on from this world, I expect God to ask me, “All the love I have given to you throughout your life, how much of that love did you pass on and serve others with?” I would rather not tell him I spent my life stressed, worried, looking out for just me and mine. I would much rather tell him how thankful I was for just the opportunity to live a life on Earth, learning, loving and living life in the fullness of Him.

We often go to church singing the songs of the suffering Christ like the ‘Old Rugged Cross’ and other songs that talk about sorrow. We should be singing songs of praise and glory of the currently Living Christ. The one who overcame the pain of this world. We have a risen savior, not a dead one. You will not hear suffering songs in heaven, for there is no sorrow. Although we look forward to spending eternity with God, we shouldn’t spend our Christian lives focusing on our deaths and eternity, but actually using this great and magnificent gift that God has given us to benefit others.

Matthew 5:15-16
(15)  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
(16)  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

“Coming Back”

I would like to first start out and say hello and thank you to all those who have read and commented on my articles. I had taken a break from writing for some time but I’m trying to get back into the driver seat, I have missed it. I think for a while I was discouraged and wondered if my articles would even be read, let alone help anyone. I had always hoped that by writing that I could possibly, by the grace of God, uplift someones spirit or encourage them in some positive way. Maybe even encourage someone to study more or to give them food for thought even if for a day.

Somewhere between daily life, family, health and the economy problems, I allowed all those things to take the forefront and used it as an excuse not to write. The truth was, someone had led me to believe I shouldn’t be writing at all. In order to step back into writing, I had to really look at why I began writing in the first place then make sense to why I had stopped.

See, I had always been a writer since I was a child. I loved to write poetry and spend lazy summer days in my imagination to write about far away places. In my teens I had stacks of pages writing numerous short stories and more poetry, even music. No awards or special recognition, just a few, “That’s nice dear, good for you.” kind of support. I got lost in marriage and family and never really pursued my passion for writing. When blogs came along and email and all these ways for people to communicate I jumped on the blog band wagon. How cool is that? To write a blog about anything or everything I could think of. Perfect for someone who loves to talk, so much information in my brain I have to share it, sometimes to the dismay of my husband. Some people write to make money, some do it for personal reasons, like writing in a journal for self growth. If I was going to write, I wanted it to at least say something worth writing about.

What was I to write about? I wanted to write not just to put my two cents in like everyone else, I was hoping to touch someone. Touching just one person, to make a small difference in this chaotic world. I wanted to write what was in my heart….God. The most important thing in my life that gives me strength, and joy and life. What else was there to write about? God has done so much for me, what in the world could I do for Him? What do you give someone who has everything?

What is the first thing God asks from us?

We must love Him with all our heart, soul and mind. Put Him first in our lives and walk with Him everyday trusting Him.  To love Him, I mean truly deep down in your soul kind of love.  A love so ingrained into your being that being separated from Him would leave you so empty you could not fathom that heartache. And think that the love God feels for us is so much more intense than any love we have ever known on this earth. God loves us so much, then shouldn’t we find a way to return that kind of love to others? Love others as God loves you.  Doing it regardless how hard people make it sometimes, love each other anyway. So, in writing what is one of the greatest ways to show love? Talk about the greatest love of all, God.

In writing I hoped to be a servant of God allowing Him to lead me. When I write about particular topics like Salvation, I try to post scriptures to allow the reader to look up passages for themselves. If it’s my opinion, I usually state that, or it can be obvious. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide my writing so that I am writing what God wants me to write, to keep me on track and not to cause confusions. I understand there is no way to please everyone, or expect the world to love everything I write. I keep being reminded what Jesus said, if the world loves you, then you are probably doing it wrong. Wording mine of course but you get the idea.

I mentioned before that I received some discouragement from someone in my life that I should not be writing. I was told in a round about way that maybe I wasn’t perfect enough in my life, (in a particular denomination). This persons vision for someone writing about God should pretty much be a man for one, and two, be closer to living a nuns life. I was told that God will judge me harsher if I misinterpret. That others who were called by God should be the ones delivering the message, as in a preacher or priest. This coming from someone who’s idea of fasting was to eliminate Pepsi out of her diet, as a sacrifice to show God how much she was willing to give up for the week. Not that making an effort isn’t a bad thing I mean God knows her heart.

But yet somehow it did have an impact on me. The mere fact that maybe I was not ‘special’ or ‘good enough’ to even talk about Him. I started running through the list…okay, one, I don’t do drugs, two, I don’t drink, three, I don’t ….etc…etc..etc.. Analyzing who I was as a Christian, as a person, as a mother and wife. I think I was being my biggest critic about everything. “I knew I shouldn’t eat seconds at that BBQ, that’s gluttony.” I thought about each move I made throughout my day. And then one day I just stopped writing. After all, I don’t want to be judged harshly for maybe accidentally saying the wrong thing. And after a while I noticed I was still getting people commenting on some of my articles, people telling me thank you. People saying how it lifted their spirits or helped them in some way. How cool is that? I am not perfect, I never will be perfect, but the disciples whom Jesus chose to be his voice were not perfect and He was still allowing them to go and tell others about Him. He still loved them and called them friends. I decided that if my whole intent was to genuinely help someone and glorify God in the process, how can it be so bad? I am not anything more than a servant who wants to please God and share the love and joy with others.

One commenter asked about my statement of faith, and maybe that will be what I write next, if it seems to matter.It seems though that no matter what my statement of faith is, I think there will be some bias before even reading my articles based on their traditional beliefs, so up to this point I have not stated one because of that.

Just to set the record straight, I am of NO denomination. I am not ‘non-denominational’ because really that is just another denomination isn’t it? I grew up with a mother who was raised in the German Mennonite church. Kind of like a more modern Amish. My mother married my father who sported a 57 Chevy Bel Air, and joined the Baptist church. She said that is when she really learned about the Holy Spirit. She said it opened up a whole new world for her and brought her closer to God. She took me to church off and on…we moved a lot when I was a kid. I would sometimes get sent with friends to church. You know, the old white buses would come around to pick you up. Sometimes I went to Catholic church, mom would be checking my pockets for any conversion pamphlets when I got home though. Sometimes I was sent to the Pentecostal church.  Long skirts and the women sported what looked like a big beehive hairdo with a long fall cascading down their backs. A lot of falling down so I just tried to stay out of the way. Throughout the years I have went to so many different denominations it’s been quite a ride. What I found was no matter which verses in the Bible made up the denominations foundational beliefs, we all had one thing in common….loving God. I imagine if Jesus was here today, he would be exploring many different denominations, looking for that common factor that what we really are is a family. There isn’t a Baptist heaven, or a Catholic heaven. There is just one heaven. If you the reader love God and are saved to Christ and I am the same, then that makes us more than strangers, we are family. We all choose different paths to God, but as long as we choose God we must trust and allow Him to judge each others journey. We are not all at the same spiritual level as another. Someone new to Christ is still drinking milk, another is eating solid food. Some plant the seeds, some water, but we are all still family. Many family members through pride want to bring others down instead of showing love and building each other up, that is not glorifying the Father, do you really believe that He would be pleased?

I feel fortunate that my mother allowed me to grow in God and allowed me to read scriptures for myself. Reading the Bible without preconceived ideas of what it is saying, or how I am expected to believe. Certainly my mother said what her understanding was, but never forced it upon me. She wanted me to come to God and love Him not because she wanted it, but because it was coming from my heart. I learned to listen to what God was saying to my heart as I read the scriptures, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me and help me understand.

Why did I allow the discouragement of another Christian get to me? I think it goes back to feeling humble maybe too humble. I realize how lucky I am that God loves me and that Jesus died for me. I knew in my heart I was given a clean slate when I received Christ, but maybe didn’t feel worthy because I hadn’t forgiven myself for some left over baggage. So when I was being judged, I started judging myself harshly, feeling so humble I felt really unworthy to even write about him. If God forgives me, and I can forgive others, shouldn’t I be able to forgive myself? Maybe that’s another topic… But there were so many good things when it came to writing about Him. I was learning and growing more spiritually when I was writing about topics that took more in depth study. Growing closer to the Father, more Bible study, possibly helping someone, sharing Gods love and spreading the gospel are all good things, so what was I thinking? All the opposition Christians have had over the centuries when they tried to share Gods Word…and I became my biggest enemy. I realized Gods love for me and my love for Him is what led me to writing about Him in the first place. He is the one I should have trusted in and continued to write about despite the opposition.

Rom 15:4  For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, so that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.