Unmerited Favor

I havent blogged in a while, just been busy I guess with different things.  The yard is coming along nicely.  As I have said before we didnt think we would be able to afford to build our patio until next year, but I started search on Craigslist for patio pavers and found a great deal on some 6x6 gray stone pavers!  I got them for half price and its almost enough to do everything!   We havent started yet, mostly because we havent had time, but REALLY because we have no idea how!  I've researched online how to do it, and I've come to the conclusion that the hardest part to me sounds like getting everything packed and leveled... so... who knows!  We are going to plan on doing that in July maybe.

Last night our pastor preached some about having favor, and when you doubt or ask questions you pretty much are questioning God and the fact that he can do anything!  Nathan and I have been wanting to record some of our origional songs so we can get the word out and hopefully keep a little busier with our music ministry.  But we also want it to be good quality which = $$$  Think 2 or 3 songs for around 1,000.00 and thats low balling it!  Thats just with Nathan and I bare essentials...  We would like to record the songs with our band, and I am believing that soon we will!  But this leads my to my whole point.  This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was praying, and I was praying for favor for us and our ministry and marriage.  Then I looked around me and saw my beautiful house that we just bought this year, I thought about my new pavers outside and our patio project that will be completed a year sooner because of the good deal I was blessed to find, I thought about our new patio set, and all the landscaping we have done in the past couple months, and in that time I felt bad for even asking for anything else.  I thought to myself... I already have been blessed so much, what right do I have to ask for more?  He's already blessed me beyond measure, what more do I want!  What more should I expect?  So I stopped praying for a min. and continued to get ready and then that still small voice spoke..... His still small voice said...thats why they call it UNMERITED FAVOR!  I have to admit, I had forgot about this!  I had not been thinking that my father is the king of kings and Lord of Lord and his grace is unlimited and freely given to all who need it!  Deserving or not, its there continually flowing out of him!  PRAISE THE LORD!!!  You see, I can pray for favor because I am his child.  Just like a child really doesnt contribute to the household, but the parents love them so much they continually give even when they dont deserve it!  They can throw a tantrum one minute and mommy and daddy will give them a hug and a candy bar the next!  He loves us to much, he loves us unconditionally, he loves us more than we can even imagine!  In fact, thats why a lot of people have such a hard time with it, they dont understand it.  They cant figure it out in their heads!  They want to understand it.  But the awesome part is... thats not our job to understand it, its not our job to wrap our heads around it, its not our job to deserve it.  Our only job is to except it, and pass it along to others!  That agape love is what draws the lost to Christ!  Unconditional, undeserving love!  Thank you Lord for loving me unconditionally, even when I dont deserve it.  Thank you for your unmerrited favor, for just pouring favor out on us freely, just because we are your children!  Thank you for teaching us to love unconditionaly! 

Cigarette Butts

From my desk at work I can look outside and see the beautiful weather, and people walking by.  One thing I see are homeless and poor people who walk up to our cigarette ash trays outside the door looking for a cigarette that still has a draw or two on it. This makes me so sad.  How desperate can a person be that they would walk up to an ash tray in a public place and grab a cigarette up out of the trash and ashes that has been in someones mouth just for a puff or two!?

I was at a local bakery this morning getting doughnuts for everyone ( like I need them) and the girls working there were asking me if we got any days off for Easter.  Shes not the only one who has asked this question, I've probably had about 230498230 phone calls asking if we will be open Friday and Monday.  The bad part is... people are calling TODAY... asking if we are open!  Nah, I just figure I will sit here at work by myself and answer the phone in case you call and ask...on my day off!  If we are answering the phone...we are here!  Anyway... we were talking about Christmas being a legal holiday but not Easter.  The girl behind the counter said maybe its because Christmas is full of peace and joy and Easter is just blood and guts.  I didn't say anything to her comment.  And I'm ashamed that I didn't.  What an opportunity to shed a new light on what is probably the most IMPORTANT holiday we as Christians celebrate, and what did I do?  Just stayed quiet.  Lord forgive me! 

If we as Christians would begin to let the world know about what happend on this day to our Lord and Savior, there would be no man searching for cigarette butts to curve his cravings, there would be not girl at the bakery who thought Easter is only blood and guts. 

Easter is really the first time God showed us grace.  Its the first time he REALLY showed us love.  Its the first time we had free access to God himself without the need to sacrifice some type of animal.  Its the first time he made himself completely available to anyone who called on his name!  Yes, the crusifiction was not pretty.  It was blood and guts, but because of that blood that was spilled on that day, we have LIFE!  We have freedom, we are not bound by religious rules, but instead we are given grace to live through him!  Jesus turned this world upside down.  People hated him because he preached something so liberating and beautiful, something that you dont have to earn!  Thank God our salvation is not placed in our own hands!  But our salvation is in the hands that were nailed to the cross and NOTHING can take that away. 

His grace and mercy makes me want to live better.  It makes me want to be more thankful, it makes me want to be a good person and it makes me want to tell others about HIM.  Im so glad that Jesus didnt die so that I had to be perfect for him to love me, but that He died so that He could still love me through my imperfections!  

Relationship is better than Religion Part 2

Yesterday someone replied to my statement "relationship is better than religion."  Their reply was: 

"We have to be careful not to confuse being 'saved from religion' with 'freedom to please ourselves' above pleasing God. God's people need more time in His house, not less time."

I couldnt agree more with this statement!  The bible clearly says that we cannot let Gods grace and mercy be a free ticket to do what we want. Romans 6:15 We can never get to the point where we cause ourselves harm, or cause ourselves to be weakened by sin and the world.  The bible says we are in the world, but not OF the world. John 17:14-19  But the fact that we are here means that there will always be something attacking us, and or something tempting us to do wrong, to please ourselves.  Being a christian = denying ourselves things that are not good for us.

With that being said, what is not good for you might be okay for me, and what is okay for me might be no good for you.  This is where RELIGION ties in.  THIS is where it begins to come in and choke out the creativeness and freedom that Gods grace, mercy, and salvation gives.  Why would God save you from the world, just to bind you up and tie you down to rules and regulations that make you feel inadequate and unworthy?  YES, we ARE unworthy of his grace and mercy, but God doesnt want us to live with that mindset.  This idea of "well if this is sin for me then it must be for you too"  is religion at its purest.  Forcing convictions of your own onto other people is spiritual death for them!  When this happens they try to be someone they are not, living with convictions that are not their own.  When you, churches, denominations, organizations do that, its asking the person to carry a weight that they were never meant to carry.  God says that HE would never place anything on us more than we could bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13  He never told us to do it, because when WE place weights on ourselves, then they burden us down and discourage.

Christianity was never ment to be HARD, or discouraging.  It was never ment to be a constant battle.  Its really quite simple.  WE make it hard, we get discouraged, we pick battles to fight that were never ment to even be out on the battlefield.  Yes, the word says that the way to heaven is narrow and few be the ones who find it, but the word also says my yoke is easy and my burden is light! Matthew 7:13-14, Matthew 11:30

God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Faith, Miracles were never ment to be hoarded up and kept inside the church walls.  WE are the church!  John Mark McMillan has a song that says I am a Temple:

Deep inside me
There's this burning
That just won't let me go
You are my fire
You are my righteousness
You are my rock in roll

I wish I could fit you
Down inside my chest God
I wish I could swallow you whole
I'd wrap you up
In a blanket of my skin
And you could call my body home

I am a temple
My body is a temple
I am a temple

So what if I'm not worthy
You make me clean

I can't get over how quickly you recover
The pieces of my heart as they shatter
Cause in your hands I am
More than just a brand new man
And all my falling down now
Its just don't matter

I am a temple
My body is a temple
I am a temple

So what if I'm not worthy
You make me clean

WE are the church, we are a living, breathing, moving, LIVING testimony for Jesus Christ.  People see you everyday and when they see you, they are seeing a small sample of the church, of Jesus, of God.  They see how he restores you!  They see how he lives and breaths in you.  Religion KILLS this!  When people look into a religious life, all they see are rules!  You cant do this, you cant do that, you cant say this, you cant wear that, you cant go here, you cant be seen with them.

These people with Religious mindsets are the same people who wanted JESUS dead!  Because he came and did things that were against the grain.  He proved them wrong, he said no its doenst have to be done like that, watch me do it like THIS!  Luke 15:2, Matthew 12:14

GOD IS A CREATIVE GOD!  Dont hinder his creativity in you by thinking you have to follow at set of MAN MADE RULES!  Follow his WORD, THE BIBLE.  What it says, do it!  Its that simple!

Following the word/Jesus is relationship, following man is religion.