All About Jesus

What is it that God calls us to do? He calls us to do everything in order to GLORIFY HIM. He wants us to treat others as we would like to be treated, have patience, be loving, act like Jesus did and be a LIGHT. 

As a follower of Jesus, you will get a lot of attention and you will likely be praised for it. People will notice how different your attitude seems to be or they will question your beliefs. Many people will be taken aback by you happiness or patience. But there is a danger in that. Many Christians will begin to act for THEMSELVES--for popularity or fame or a good reputation or to make themselves feel good. That is doing good with the wrong motivation and therefore really not that good. 

Make sure that what you do, you do for the GLORY OF GOD. You should do what you do to make Him happy and to point others in His direction. Sometimes this can be hard or discouraging because people won't understand Jesus' call the way you do, they won't attribute your attitude to Christ. 

My companions saw the light, but did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

Acts 22:9

Even in the Bible there are cases of people not understanding how much God does and that He has a hand in things. Not understanding God's voice. Not seeing Him or hearing what He has to say. But don't give up hope!

Even when it seems impossible to get someone to see God, remember that He can do ANYTHING! Even if nothing seems to be happening now, He can make a way for it to happen eventually. He is the one who needs to do the work in their lives, not you. 

Jesus is the one who saves not you! All you can do is be a good example and try to point people in the right direction and Jesus will do the rest! So don't be discouraged if people don't understand that it truly is God's handiwork, but continue to do your part. 

Keep on living for Jesus and SHINING for Him. Make your life all about Jesus, give Him the glory and don't forget that He does the work, you just point people in the right direction! 

Awesome Creator

Do you ever have those LONG projects-- that take you weeks, months, maybe even years-- that when you finish it you just look at it with pride? Maybe you worked on your house, maybe you made a painting, a collage, or a song. Looking at what you've made can be really awe inspiring, but have you ever looked at what God has made? Have you ever looked at the world around you and just MARVELLED? Any where you turn you can see God's artistry in the sights and scenes surrounding you. It seems every detail is perfect and beautiful!

He made the oceans:

He made the mountains: 

He made the deserts: 

He made all the animals: 

He even made our solar system: 

He made EVERYTHING and each thing He made is so complex and glorious and beautiful, it's breathtaking! God truly is the one and only AWESOME CREATOR. He made the sun, moon and the skies. He made everything you can see and feel and smell in just 7 days! I don't know about you, but that makes any project I can make dim in comparison. Everything on Earth points to it's AWESOME creator! 

You know what is really mind blowing? God made all of this extraordinary universe and He made YOU. Not only that, but our awesome creator chose you and loves you. 

What are we that God should care about us? Look how tiny we are compared to a lion, to a mountain, to the universe, and the AWESOME creator who made it all cares about tiny, little us. Isn't that just amazing? God not only cares, but He loves us enough to send His son to die for us on the cross so that we might be saved. We do nothing but spite Him, we are tiny and minuscule and yet He loves us and chose to save US. That is truly AWESOME. 

Have you thanked your awesome creator lately? We should-- every day and every second because that is how much He has done and continues to do for us. 

Bridge

We have ALL sinned and that sin is what separates us from a pure and holy God. We all deserve punishment and suffering for that sin, but God is so gracious and merciful and He loves us so much that he FORGIVES and even gives us a way to be with Him!

 

Salvation is a GIFT from God, it is nothing that we can do on our own. We can never do enough good works or pay enough to cover our sin. Our sin requires a sacrifice and since we are sinners ourselves, we NEED the sacrifice, we cannot be or make it. God loves us so much that He sent His one and only son to be OUR sacrifice!

 



 

 

Jesus suffered and died for US. For OUR sins. He took our place. He healed us. He BRIDGED the gap between God and us and only through Jesus can we make it to God, not by ANYTHING that we can do on our own! Only by accepting Jesus' GIFT of sacrifice and salvation. Only Jesus can truly save us! Isn't that the best gift imaginable? 

 

 

 

We each have a choice: try to save ourselves through good works and perish or we can accept God's FREE GIFT of salvation and cross the BRIDGE of Christ! Which will you choose? 

Brokenness of All

Each and every one of us has flaws. Every single one of us struggles with something. Every one of us sins. We are not perfect. How many times have you lied, said a mean thing about a friend, or lashed out at someone? We are ALL broken and the trouble is we can't see how broken we really are. I've heard it put like this, a man who breaks his leg will immediately feel the pain and know he needs a doctor, but someone who is paralyzed and breaks his leg won't feel it and think he is fine. We are like the paralytic, so broken we don't even realize how broken we are.

ALL have sinned. Not just some of us, but ALL of us. The Bible says that that sin in all of us deserves punishment and justice. It says that we all deserve to die because of that sin. 

That is why we ALL need Jesus because we ALL have sinned. Lucky us though, our God is forgiving and loving and merciful and he has given ALL of us a gift of salvations through Jesus Christ. We are weak ALL weak on our own and we will continue to fail, but through our failing God will show us His mercy and goodness. 

When we are weak and we turn to God, we see just how strong he really is! We are ALL weak and broken and we ALL need Jesus! We cannot do this without him. 

So let me ask you this: Do you see how broken you are? Do you know that you need salvation? Have you accepted the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ? 

Reach Out

How often do we all get so wrapped up in our own lives that we forget there's an entire world around us? I know that I feel like I worry about myself too much. Like my life becomes all about ME and not enough about God and EVERYONE ELSE. God wants us to REACH OUT to people. To see more than just ourselves.

There are thousands, MILLIONS of lonely and hurting people out there. The world is vast and a lot of times we tend to forget that--I know I do. What if instead of worrying about ourselves we began to think about OTHERS. What if we began to HELP people when we could--comforting people, volunteering, simply talking to someone, sharing Jesus with people? How different would our world be? 

As followers of Christ, we should be willing to HELP people in any circumstance. We should put others ABOVE ourselves. Keep in mind that not everything we do for others has to be extreme...

Simply being cheerful and polite and KIND can brighten someones day and be "good medicine"! If we act as Jesus taught us to, with a joyful and loving attitude, we will improve peoples' lives! All we have to do is REACH OUT to the world around us. 

If we take a look at the world around us, we will see a lot of needy and lonely people. When we REACH OUT and act like Jesus did even with the small things, putting OTHERS above ourselves we can CHANGE THE WORLD--or at least brighten it a little!!

New You

Today I read a really great section of Acts, Acts 3. It is a rather long, so I won't post the whole thing, but I would definitely encourage you to take out your Bibles or even just google Acts 3. I found that it really inspiring. Here's a summary of what happens: 

 There were these two guys, Peter and John, both were followers of Jesus. They were on a mission to witness to people and to spread God's Word, so they went to a Jewish temple--just think about that. There's these two guys going into a busy Jewish temple, where they don't believe in Jesus, preaching all about what Jesus had done for them. A pretty risky move. Anyway, just outside the temple they see this beggar who had been lame since birth.

He asks Peter and John for money and what do they tell him? "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." (3:6) And up he went, the lame beggar walking around and praising the name of Jesus! All of the other people at the temple saw this guy, this lame beggar that they had seen everyday for years, they saw him walking. Knowing it had to be a miracle they began to question and praise John and Peter, who promptly set them straight and told them that it was not by their power, but by GOD'S power that the beggar had been healed. 

Isn't that just inspiring? That God can heal ANYONE. He can make anyone a new creation--No matter who you were or what you've been through. God can work in your life like He worked in this beggars.

God tells us that He can save us, He can CHANGE us whenever we call on His name! He can make us clean, so ANY sin we committed is just gone. He makes us a clean slate again! He makes us NEW CREATIONS. 

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord," Acts 3:19

God is there for us to SAVE us and to CLEAN us and to REDEEM us. He wants to make us into new creations. He wants to show the new you. The true you! 

Jesus will change your life. He will take away your guilt and fill you will peace and joy and HOPE! You just have to repent and allow Him to work in your life. Because if He can use a lame beggar as His witness, why can't he use you? Correct answer: He CAN. 

If you truly do allow Jesus to change your life and make you a new creation in Him, then give him all the glory!! In Acts, John and Peter easily could have become famous and renowned, but they CHOSE to give the glory to God. We should all take after their example.

There are many lessons to be learned out of one teeny little chapter in Acts:
1. God can use ANYONE to be His witness--even a lame beggar
2. Have Holy Boldness and don't be afraid to share your faith in Christ, like John and Peter did
3. God can change ANYONE and make ANYONE new
4. No matter what is going on in your life, give the all the glory to God!


Now it's your turn to allow Jesus to change your life and turn you into the NEW YOU!

Mountains

Sometimes life is just hard. Obstacles come in our paths that feel completely impassable! Sometimes it feels we're climbing Mount Everest and it's not easy. But with a little FAITH that mountain, that problem can be diminished!

Really it's only a mountain. What's that compared to our SAVIOUR? To our God? He made all things. He can surpass all things and with His strength WE can surpass all things! With God we can win even the hardest of battles. Mountains are to God a grain of sand.

God can take our hardships and our obstacles and just MOVE them out of the way. He makes all of the hurdles of life JUMPABLE. He enables us to do ANYTHING, to WIN any battle, to CONQUER any fight! All we need is a little faith. 

God has a plan for our lives. When we believe that and begin to follow His will for us, there isn't anything we can't handle! God wouldn't give us a situation that we couldn't succeed in. Not everything will be easy... but it will be POSSIBLE because of God! He knows our future-- He PLANNED it-- so He knows what He's doing. 

We have NOTHING to fear. God is already going ahead of us and making the way of our future and any obstacle He puts in our way He will help us overcome! 

Every trial--even one as seemingly big as a MOUNTAIN-- can be overcome with God. All we need to do is have FAITH and follow His will for us! You CAN surpass any challenge that comes your way.