Why do so many people turn their backs on God? Discouragement. Discouragement comes fast and loud, when you begin to seek out Christ. Discouragement is The Enemys #1 weapon against us. If he can get you to be discouraged, then he can knock you off the course of your God-given destiny. And YES, you DO HAVE a God-given destiny for being alive; a plan and a purpose. YOUR LIFE IS NOT RANDOM. It was planned. Even if your parents didnt plan you, God still did. The Enemy does not want you to believe that you are anything special. He wants to discourage your faith by making you think that your life is random; when, the odds of you even being alive today is ASTRONOMICAL. It was planned! This is why each day, we must consciously stay focused on the things God says about us! Not people, BUT GOD! Jesus NEVER preached discouragement; no, just the opposite, Jesus was the ultimate ENCOURAGER, not DIS-courager. And I see so many people basing their self-worth on the actions and words of others, who, have nothing to do with encouragement. If God wants to pummel me into the ground, so be it. GOD DOES NOT WANT TO PUMMEL YOU INTO THE GROUND. HE LOVES YOU. YOU ARE HIS CHILD. If anything bad DOES happen to you, it is for a greater purpose that you cannot understand; but God is NOT punishing you when you have Christ! CHRIST TOOK THAT PUNISHMENT 2000+ YEARS AGO. Even people in the church, church leaders, theyve gone from Love your neighbor as yourself, to None of us are worthy of Gods love. WRONG. You WERENT worthy BEFORE you began to believe that Jesus is the Son of God! NOW, YOU ARE WORTHY. Because of your faith in Christ, have been adopted into His family, and marked with a Holy Seal, that says, PROPERTY OF THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE! If you are involved in a church that is against other Christians being positive and confident in Christ, ask yourself WHY? What is it that you strive for? The glory of God? GOOD. However, YOU are the glory of God! HIS MASTERPIECE. He created this entire universe to have a loving relationship with YOU, specifically, so why are you still so scared to talk about HOW MUCH YOUR DAD LOVES YOU? AND HOW MUCH GOOD THAT HE HAS PLANNED FOR YOU? God did not create us to tuck our tails, WE ARE TO BE CONFIDENT, NOT COCKY, because God loves us SO MUCH that He created us, and EVEN MORESO, because He sent His Son to take the brunt of our sin punishment. He created us to be brave THROUGH HIM. To spread hope and encouragement, through Him. THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS MORE THAN ANYTHING, AND THIS CAN ONLY FOUND IN CHRIST. Some church leaders have even gone as far as to NOT love others as Christ commands. Their self-righteous nature actually blocks people, rather than welcoming them. Their message has no hope or encouragement, it is dead. Theyve sold themselves on the lie that The Gospel is not encouraging; there is no hope in what they preach. They get rude and mad at other preachers who speak LIFE into the world by ENCOURAGEMENT.... They do not portray the love of Christ. So what they teach others is that being distraught all the time proves that we are following Christ, and that because of our self-righteous meekness, we are being holy, when this could not be further from the truth! FOLLOWING CHRIST ALLOWS YOU TO SEE SOMETHING POSITIVE IN EVERY SITUATION BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE! Its as if being hopeful and loving would negate their faith, when JESUS said that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH HIM! And some have set up shop completely away from those who need Christ the most; they have SHUNNED modern day tools and technology that will bring more people to Jesus because these things might turn into an idol. Maybe you stating that you dont want so many things turning into and idol, has actually turned into your idol. Some have even gone as far as turning cold and unapproachable, actually kicking people out of their churches, or blocking them from their lives. God forbid that they shine a light of GOODNESS, rather than religion. People come to Christ FIRST, because He is good, not because He has a set of rules to follow.... Following Christs rules come ONLY AFTER you actually love Jesus, and respect Him, never before. So ask yourself, Why do I even want people to come to Christ?..... That is a fair question. Is it so that they can live a life of self-righteous meekness? NOBODY WANTS THAT. Including Christians that are currently living it. If we are not reaching out to non-Christians, and loving current Christians like Jesus longs for us to, then our faith is nothing but show. It is a paper bag. WHAT WE NEED is encouragement and hope, THROUGH the truth and love of Christ! Some people wont touch Christianity with a ten-foot pole simply because of Christians. We say, Love the sinner, but hate the sin, but our actions are showing that we hate both. Our actions are showing that BECAUSE we hate sin so much, we naturally hate the sinner as well. WHY DONT YOU START TO LOVE OTHERS DESPITE THEIR SIN? Not approve or condone, but DESPITE it. We must begin to have a pure love and respect for them. This is what Jesus did. He didnt walk up to Peter in the boat and say, Hey, you aint living right. You are all jacked up. Follow me or go to hell. NO. He kindly said, Follow me. And then He found some common ground to talk to Peter about, which was fishing.... WE HAVE TO BEGIN TO ACT LIKE CHRIST. Which is being full of HOPE, GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE. We have to find common ground with others to build on. We have to forgive others infinitely. LIFTING the downtrodden, the despaired, the outcasts, and the addicts. Pointing to Jesus and saying, HEY, LOOK! HE IS WHERE ITS AT! Its not me, Its ALL HIM! We MUST begin to find ways to get non-believers to even CONSIDER Christ. And that will only begin when you show them grace. So many people are turning away from the Christian community because WE ARE NOT SHOWING PEOPLE THE GRACE OF CHRIST. This includes actual Christians. THERE IS SUCH A LACK OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND HOPE IN OUR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AND THIS MUST CHANGE. People LIVE off of encouragement and hope, and there is NOTHING more ENCOURAGING and HOPEFUL than a relationship with Jesus Christ! If we can all begin to do this, which is begin to advertise the encouragement and hope found in Christ, THE LOVE, then we will be changing this world for the better, and we will be helping people find their purpose for living, which is knowing Jesus Christ forever!
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:58:13 +0000
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