You Know How Some People Are Impossible To Please? Jesus Isn’t Like That.

Fairest Of Ten Thousand #172

Revelation 2:2

Do you have any of those relationships where you can never seem to win? You know, this person always remembers your mistakes and screw-ups, but the good stuff you’ve done never seems to be good enough or somehow never seems to count. It’s like you’re taking a test with this person, only you never know what the questions are, and you always fail. Some folks are just impossibly hard to please, but Jesus isn’t one of them. I think that most folks assume that because Jesus is God in the flesh, He would be the hardest person to please, ever. They think that Jesus is probably constantly shaking His head at our efforts toward goodness or else completely discounting everything we do because it all seems so trivial. The truth is that most people have Jesus figured out all wrong. He doesn’t have some kind of impossible standard of friendship maintenance where your good intentions and hard work don’t register on the scale. On the contrary, He knows every movement of your heart and sees all your motives as plain as day. When you pray for someone who’s down or make a sacrifice of time or money to help someone in need, simply because you love them and you want to show them the love of Jesus, the Lord sees that. In the book of Revelation, Jesus dictates seven letters to some churches and in the very first one He says, “I know your deeds.” No matter how small it may seem to you, Jesus knows and sees everything good and sweet in your heart. When you act out of love for Him to please His heart, He knows it and He’ll never forget it.

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Q&A… The Doorway To Freedom!

Anonymous asked:

I want to change. I want to be different, but I always come back to the same old things again and again. I used to love the junk I’m into, but now I hate it. I know all I have is Jesus, but I always fall. I’m so sick of being this person, but I feel like I’ll never change. I know the devil has me in his grip and I don’t know what to do. What am I supposed to do?

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So I Said:

The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath, look in the mirror and smile, because you’re about to taste the sweet release of freedom.

Brother, you are on the threshold of a brand new life. Any minute now, you’re going to cross a boundary. I’m not saying you’ll never sin again. I’m not even saying that you’ll never fall in this specific area again, but you’re about to make a deep and permanent change that you’ll never go back from. You’re about to learn something unforgettable about yourself… Are you ready? Here we go:

You’re not the person you used to be. I know that sounds like a simple thing. It may not even sound like that big of a deal, but trust me, it’s absolutely earth-shattering. You have changed. You’re not finished changing, but even though you haven’t arrived at perfection yet, (obviously none of us has) you are different. Right now, the Spirit of the Lord is in your heart telling you that I’m right. Deep down inside, you know I’m right. And even as you read these words, the devil is there in your head telling you I’m wrong. He’s reminding you of your sin and how messed up you’ve been. He’s slinging mud and lying to you. He’s telling you that you’ve never changed at all and that this Jesus-thing will never really work, but his lies are about to fall apart because I can prove to you beyond the shadow of a doubt that you, my friend have changed. I can absolutely prove to you that you are not the person you used to be. Wanna know my proof? Here it is:

You hate it when you fall again. You hate the way it feels. You have to trick yourself into doing that thing, your stomach turns the whole time you’re doing it and then you absolutely hate the way it feels when it’s over. That’s my proof. You see, back in the day, when you did that sin, you loved it. You longed for it. You loved the steps you had to go through to pull it off. You loved the way it felt to have done it. Now, you hate it! Now, you hate the way it feels! Brother, you have changed! You are changing! It’s working! Jesus is in your heart right now, changing the way you feel about your own sin! Boom.

That change is proof to me that you are on the very brink of freedom. You’re almost free from it. The reason you feel like you’re in the devil’s grip is that he’s in panic-mode. Right now, the devil is grasping at straws trying to hang on to you because he knows he’s getting defeated. He knows that you’re almost finished with this sin for good and that your heart is getting more free by the second.

By the way, no matter how much it feels like you’re in the devil’s grip, remember, you’re not. You will never be in his slimy grip. The truth is, you’re in the unbreakable grip of Jesus. In John 10, Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

He has hold of you and He’ll never let you go. You aren’t who you were. You’re changing. The devil can’t stand it, but he can’t do anything to change it. Just keep believing in Jesus and cling to Him, asking Him to change you more and more. My friend, you are free.

Q&A… Tips On Finding A Good Church!

Anonymous asked:

Hey, awesome blog! Recently I left my church because much of what they were preaching was unbiblical Do you have any tips in looking for a new church? Also should I wait on the Lord to show me what church to go to or should I be checking out different churches ? Thank you

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So I Said:

Churches should not be like worldly businesses:

When you walk into a church and they immediately hand you an information card to fill out, pause right there. Read that card. Do they want your street address and email? Do they want your phone number? Why do they want that information? They don’t even know you… Find out some stuff about this place. Go to their website. Do they want you to sign a pledge card saying you’re gonna give a certain amount of money every month? Is this just about how much they want to expand and all the things they want to do (with your help)? Do they quote secular leadership books and follow secular leadership models? Are they trying to build the kingdom using worldly wisdom?

Churches should not be like worldly organizations. They shouldn’t be doing the things they are doing in order to get bigger and promote themselves. They shouldn’t use worldly tactics to get the most amount of money from people. If you find a church that advertises itself like an informercial product or collects personal information like an insurance agent or gets you to sign a financial agreement like a health club, you need to move on. 

Churches should be like individual Christians are supposed to be:

Some churches talk about themselves so much, they make Kanye West look humble. Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another praise you and not your own mouth; someone else and not your own lips.” The fact of the matter is that individual people who constantly talk about themselves and their own goals and achievements are people who have no friends. No one else can stand it, but churches do it all the time. They constantly go on and on about all the amazing stuff they’re doing and how big and important they are. Churches can be the most conceited entities around and the problem is that most people just let it happen. If any of your friends acted like that, you’d pull them aside and tell them how to be. As Christians, we’re supposed to be humble and kind, putting others’ needs above our own. Churches ought to be like individual Christians - they should stop talking about themselves all the time and encourage someone else. In 2 Corinthians 4:5, the Apostle Paul said, “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 

Churches should be like Jesus:

In Mark 10:45, Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Churches should be more like Jesus, on a mission to serve those He loves and ready to heal their wounds and wash their feet. Instead, most churches are in the business of ‘casting a vision’ for what the church as an organization can be - which means that the people who go to the church only exist for the purpose of fulfilling that vision. In this kind of vision, the people are more like batteries (like in the matrix) that make the church go. That’s a broken way to do things. The church is supposed to exist to serve the people who go to it. The church staff should be the servants of all. Pastors aren’t vision casters. They are servants and foot washers. Vision casters build profitable, self-sustaining empires, while pastors build the kingdom of God by laying down their lives in love as Jesus did. 

Anon, go to some churches. Find their website. Search for their statement of faith. Does it line up with the biblical Gospel? If so, dig around. What do they talk about? Is it all about them? Is the ‘church’ the point? Go to this church. Does someone warmly greet you? Does someone sit and talk with you and try to get to know you, or do they hand you a card to get all your personal information? Are they immediately trying to plug you into some ministry, or do they just want to love you and help you naturally find your place? Ask the Lord to lead you to a place where the kingdom of God is growing as it ought to grow and not unnaturally, using the tools and wisdom of the world. 

You are looking for a place where Jesus is the point. 

You are looking for a place where the pastor and leaders are the servants of all.

You are looking for a place where church itself is invisible and exists to love people.

Your Emotions May Try To Take Over, But Because Of Jesus, You Don’t Have To Let Them

Fairest Of Ten Thousand #171

Luke 7:13

Do your emotions ever get the best of you? Do you ever lose the ability to think your way through a situation you’re going through simply because you are feeling so much? Maybe the stress of a moment has you so completely tense and strained that you can’t do anything but panic; or else you’re so heartbroken, low and sad that you just feel trapped in the dark. Do you know what that’s like? People get ruled by their emotions because they believe their emotions are the truest thing about them. Their thinking goes like this: “My emotions are just an honest, direct result of what’s happening to me, so I can’t change them. They just are what they are.” The result is a person who is completely out of control of their own feelings. Did you know that tons of the prayers in the New Testament were about emotions? The Apostle Paul was always praying that God would give people peace and hope or fill them with joy and love. Jesus would take it a step farther. He would simply tell people to change how they felt. He told the women of Jerusalem not to feel pity for Him. He asked a bereaved household why they were wailing. He once told a grieving widow not to cry when her son was dead. How could He expect people to change feelings like those? Luke says that Jesus’ heart went out to that mother and then he raised the boy from the dead. You see, we don’t just change our emotions for no reason. We can change because Jesus feels for us and He is actually able to change everything. His love and power are bigger than our emotions.

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Shame Makes Us Want To Hide, But Jesus Doesn’t Listen To Our Shame

Fairest Of Ten Thousand #170

Luke 5:8

There is a theory going around in some Christian circles that we need to change the message of the Gospel because people are changing so much. These folks say that so-called post modern people no longer respond to the message of a God who became our Substitute and gave His blood in sacrifice to pay for our wrong. They say this message doesn’t work anymore because people don’t feel guilt or shame like they used to. The truth is, people haven’t changed at all since God made the first couple. We’re just like they were. We’re sinful and we know it. We feel shame over our wrong just like they did. When we feel ashamed of ourselves, the number one thing we want is to be alone. It’s embarrassing to have fallen again, right? It’s humiliating to still be working through the same old things. Shame makes us want to hide. It’s the very same thing that happened to Adam and Eve after the very first sin. Their instinct was to run and hide. We know we deserve to be punished. We immediately recognize that part of our punishment should be isolation. It’s as if we should be quarantined from the rest of the human race. Shame makes us afraid to face anyone, especially God. It happened in the garden. It happened when Jesus showed up. Peter looked at Jesus and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinner!” Our shame makes us want to run and hide, but Jesus doesn’t listen to our shame. He pursues us. He refuses to leave us alone. We’re the same and the message is the same: Sin brought shame and made us hide. Love defeats sin and conquers shame. 

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