May
Q&A… On Standing Up To Your Parents In Your Faith
Anonymous asked:
I grew up Roman Catholic in the Philippines and it has always made me feel constricted. The traditions don’t mean anything to me and I’m not growing spiritually in that church. I want to try a protestant church, but my parents freak out if I even mention it. My dad said that if I go to a protestant church, it will break their hearts. The problem is that I can’t be true to myself, that I can’t share my love for Christ and my new found passion for Him with them because they will know something’s up. I feel like I’m sinning against them with the thought of going to Bible study or whatever non-Roman Catholic practices I want to pursue. It just really hurts so much and I feel so troubled. I feel like I will lose them when I say I want to convert. I am growing so much, I want to grow more and I want to be more honest, do more for Christ, I want to be happy in another church but I can’t. — I’m stuck in this lie and I just don’t know what to do. I feel so alone. [edited for length]
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So I Said:
Anon, before I answer this question, I want you to know I’m praying for you a ton. My heart goes out to you and I think you are awesome. You are such an encouragement to so many hundreds of people here on tumblr and twitter all over the world. You are not afraid to shine your light and it’s making a difference in so many lives, so be encouraged about that.
{Now, one more piece of business before we start: There are plenty of Catholic folks who read this blog and I have many dear friends who are Catholic (including my little sister) and this post will not be about bashing the Catholic church. The fact is that the Catholic church is different in the Philippines than it is in other parts of the world. I know this because my wife went to high school in Manila and I have really good friends who are from the Philippines. So, it’s not that being Catholic is bad, but Catholicism is a little different in the Philippines and this anon is in a tough situation.}
Anon, I have a dear friend who grew up in Manila and experienced your exact same situation. She told her father that she had accepted Christ and was baptized in a (born again) protestant church and it broke his heart. My friend experienced all of that rejection and alienation from her family, but eventually everything changed. Over time, when her father realized that this new group was not a cult and that knowing and walking with Jesus was changing his daughter for the better, he accepted it. (Actually, her father eventually became a born-again believer later in his life as well)
My friend said that you probably already know this in your heart, but that you need to declare to your parents that you are born again and give them a chance to see what an amazing part of your life this is. Give them a chance to see that you are not crazy, that it’s not a cult and that you are growing in love because of your relationship with Jesus.
If you are still living at home with your parents, you may be prevented from seeing your Christian friends and they may even take your Bible away, but this doesn’t change who you are. Even in the midst of a situation that’s hard, you still have a chance to show them how the love of Christ is changing you in the way you act toward them. Keep loving them, serving them and showing them the kindness and tenderness of Christ.
If you are financially independent, and living on your own, you may be shut out of family gatherings, but this doesn’t prevent you from continuing to show them love - through letters, calls and visits.
The main thing here is that you can’t hide who you are forever. You already know that you can’t live a lie. You are one of those people (bless you) who simply isn’t able to hide your light under a bushel! Your love for the Lord comes bursting through everything you do! Your heart for Jesus is going to shine and you really can’t help it. Maybe your parents just need a chance to see with their own eyes what it looks like when a person truly knows and walks with Jesus in a beautiful way. I’m praying for you, Anon. I’m asking the Lord to open the door for the right opportunity for you to do what He’s leading you to do. I’m asking Him to give you the courage and boldness to do a hard thing that may be hard for years and years.
As an American, I know I’m not able to fully understand the relationship between parents and children in Asia, but I know Jesus does. His own family rejected and persecuted Him. He knows how you feel. He sees your hurt and He will give you the strength to endure this. In the end, Jesus comes first - even before our family. Your walk with the Lord is not sin against your parents, however it may feel. We have to follow Him. Remember, you’re not alone. You always have the Lord with you and your friends on tumblr will always have your back.
(I want to say a special word of thanks to my friend who grew up in the Philippines and helped me understand all of these issues)
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May
Jesus Silently Endured The Worst Pain Anyone Has Ever Conceived - And It Was Because He Had A Beautiful Secret
Have you met those kinds of people who never seem to complain about anything, ever? It doesn’t matter how bad it is, these folks will grin and bear it. Now, I’m not one of those people. If I have a hang nail, you’re gonna hear about it. If I start getting sick, I want folks to know, because I want them to treat me in a certain way. I guess I’m just not as strong as those other kinds of folks. I have to admit that those people who never complain about their pains amaze me with their toughness. Jesus endured so many things and never complained once. He didn’t gripe about the trials of being poor and homeless. He didn’t grumble about the many sleepless nights His ministry forced upon Him. And somehow, amazingly, He never made a fuss about the torture He endured surrounding the cross. The Bible says He never uttered any threats and never opened His mouth in complaint during the worst physical treatment human minds have ever conceived. Peter said He was silent. Here’s the thing, though: Jesus didn’t endure the pains of the cross in silence as a show of bravado or great strength. (Don’t get me wrong - He was the strongest and bravest of men) But no, His silence was about something else. See, Jesus was holding on to a beautiful secret. Even though He was being physically destroyed in every way and emotionally torn down, He kept His peace. What was His secret? It was this: He was winning. He was dying as a substitute for me and for you. That pain won the hearts of those He loved. He endured our death gladly so that we could be His.
May
May
May
BETTER THAN A DREAM
I wrote this song about a woman in the Bible named Rahab. She had been used, played, lied to and taken advantage of. We don’t know how old she was when she became a prostitute, but her life was a miserable nightmare. She dreamed that somewhere, someone would actually love her for who she was. At some point, she heard that there was a Living God who loved nobodies like her. She threw caution to the wind and believed in Him. God rescued her from a great destruction and she became part of the family tree that brought Jesus into the world. It turns out that God’s plan for her was even better than her wildest dreams.
This song is for anyone who feels used, rejected and miserable. Go ahead and dream about what God could do for you, knowing that He loves you and wants to do way more than even your dreams…
May
What Is Love?
In 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul says that there is only one stat that ultimately matters in your walk with God - one thing that that truly tells the world who you are, and that is your love (or lack thereof). The real question is, how do I grow in love? What does love look like? What does love do, and what does it not do? What is love?
10. Love Doesn’t Get Fed Up
You watched the Avengers movie, right? Of course you did. Everybody watched it. Okay, let’s talk about the Hulk. I’ve loved comic books all my life, but I never read the Hulk comics. I was never all that pumped about some dude that just gets really angry and that’s his thing. I was always like, “What’s the big deal? He’s just angry guy?” As far as I knew, the Hulk’s story went like this: At some point, an experiment went wrong that changed him in such a way that when he gets angry, he just becomes this uncontrollable mass of anger. As a kid who loved comics, that just didn’t appeal to me. Then I watched the Avengers movie and changed the way I felt about the Hulk. The dude doesn’t just hulk-out when he’s angry… turns out he’s always angry! No, the hulking out has more to do with destruction. He doesn’t just lose control when he’s angry - he loses control when he gets hurt and he’s ready to end the situation by force with total destruction.
Okay, so what in the world does the Hulk have to do with the Bible and the Apostle Paul and his teaching on love in 1 Corinthians 13? Well, check this out: Paul says in verse 7 that love “always protects.” Literally, he says that love “covers everything.” That word we have translated ‘protects’ is a word that means to shield or cover up, like with a roof. It’s also used in the New Testament to mean ‘bearing with’ or ‘putting up with.’ In other words, he’s saying that people who love know how to put up with one another. They endure everything.
I was thinking about this and trying to figure out what these words ‘protecting’ and ‘covering’ and ‘enduring’ had to do with each other. I was trying to wrap my head around it when I finally looked up some more verses where this word ‘cover’ or ‘protect’ or ‘endure’ is used. In one place, Paul is talking about how the missionaries have a right to get paid for their ministry, but he says he would rather ‘put up with’ anything than get paid for his ministry. In another place he and his companions were in one place ministering and he says, “When I could stand it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith.”
So, this word for ‘protecting’ or ‘covering’ has to do with not reaching the end of your rope. When you are completely fed up and you’ve had all you can possibly stand, you act. Or, if you’re able to ‘endure’ it, you don’t act. Maybe you end a relationship. Maybe you tell your other friends, “I’ve had it with her!” or “I’m done with him!” Maybe you’ve heard people say stuff like, “We’re through, here!” Some people say that stuff when a relationship has built up so much hurt that they simply can’t forgive anymore and they just have to end it.
It’s as if we all have this little hulk inside us when it comes to our relationships. If we get too hurt or if someone pushes the right buttons with us, we can let that little hulk lose and he’ll come roaring out and destroy the relationship. If we let the lid off that little hulk, he’ll smash everything, burning bridges and crushing love and declaring things like, “I’m done with you! We’re through!”
I think what Paul is saying is that the love we have in Jesus is a love that says, “I’ll never get fed up. I’ll never burn this bridge.” The love we have in Jesus is a love that allows us to endure anything and keep the cover on the little hulk. When Paul says that love “always protects,” I think he’s saying that love protects everyone else from me. This love protects other people from the hulk inside me that wants to destroy stuff when I get too hurt. Love shields everyone from the monster that I could be because this love doesn’t get fed up.
May
SEEK FIRST
May
You Know How Some People Are Impossible To Please? Jesus Isn’t Like That.
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.
May
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.
May
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.
