Bad People are myths

I am psychology major here in college and I'm studying aggression at the moment. Reading about all the shootings that happened, rape and all this horrible stuff; many people would've been quick to grow angry with the offender (I'm definitely one of them) but for some reason today my heart broke for them instead. How much pain they must have went through to become this way, how much hurt they must have had in their lives, the misunderstandings, the loneliness, the confusion...it's not an excuse for what they have done and the pain they have caused to others but it is something worth considering. To say the world is full of bad people, I honestly disagree. But I do see really broken and lost people. People who desperately need God in their lives to guide them and comfort them, just to let them know that someone does love them, that they are worthy. When I read these stories, my heart just hurts, I wonder how much this must hurt God...how does God go through all this heartache and still love mankind, he sees us as we hate the people we caused to become lost and broken. God's unconditional love amazes each and every day.

"Christianity is a joke because Christians don't act like they are suppose to with Christ, you know what, its not a big deal, heres why..because you and I are the same person, we act the same, we talk the same, we do the same things, ask anybody that knows the both of us and they'll say the only difference between you and me is you don't get to sleep in on sundays and I do."


Since I came upon this video the beginning of this school year, I probably watched it about 5 times now and every time it still has the same affect on me. The thing with God's words is just that, no matter how many times you hear/read the same thing, something about it can still hit you whether its the same point or different. Thats because we're not perfect so everything that God says still has a relevance to us in one way or another. (I never understood people who say how they can't take anything else from the bible because they read it 5times, or a worship song is overplayed so they're sick of it now...theres always something there that points back to God!)

That line I quoted up there was the line that hit me every time i watched the video. I can never get sick of it because its always going to be something relate-able to me. I am a sinful person afterall. This line slapped me hard in the face because if i was in the man's shoes, i wouldve started crying on the spot. As a Christian we are called to be in his image, we are his ambassadors, people just automatically make the connection that what we do is who God is. That's how the world judges us and God knows it, thats why he wants us to walk in his image. He wants us to live a life that glorifies him...that means when others look at you they see how great God is. Like when someone punches you in the face and you turn the other cheek, if they ask you why you're not fighting back and you say wholeheartedly "because God told me not to" how would that affect the way they live? A friend of mine told me how the way she judges her actions is by thinking "if Jesus were to appear before me at this very moment would I be doing/saying the stuff I am now?"

When we come to Christ, our old selves die and we are made new in him. If we still live the same way we did before knowing God then is there really a point? And for all those lost people who sees your actions, they will only keep running away from God because you made him into someone who is a part of the world and nothing greater.

James 2:17 says "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk. And do so wholeheartedly because God sees your heart.

Voting

Today is the day where all of America is going crazy about who the new president is going to be. Honestly speaking I've never been into politics. Not that I don't know the importance of it or I'm too lazy to pay attention to. Voting is a great privilege and I am thankful that we were given a voice through it but at the same time I have also chosen not to vote. Voting for someone whom I have no idea why I'm voting for him doesn't seem right to me at all.

Rather than taking part in something I don't understand, I rather pray to God that whoever is put on that spot would do what is right for his kingdom. That they would protect His people and that His will will be done. I honestly do believe prayer would have a greater affect than voting but that doesn't mean people out there shouldn't vote. If you know what you're doing, and you know what you're fighting for, what this president have to offer that can benefit your nation, I think you should definitely vote. (You should also pray that God's will will be done ofcourse haha)

But for those of you like me, who's tried to understand the different views of these candidates but can't and prayer is all you got...then pray. Prayer is the greatest weapon God has given us. So lets make use of it whether you can vote or not, just pray that God will reign over your nation.

Grace

Grace was always something I had a hard time understanding. I betrayed God so many times, why am I loved by him and his people? How can I possibly deserve it? But looking back now that is completely missing out the meaning of grace, grace is being given something you do not deserve. God's love is something we don't deserve, Jesus' death is something we don't deserve but these are all given to us because God is graceful. He loves us all THAT much that he was willing to give us everything we didn't deserve. He looked at each of us as if we precious jewels. We are all very undeserving of his love but it is also his love that gives us our value. Our worth is in the Lord, a lot of us know that but do we really believe it? Our worth is only found in the Lord and he looks at us with such love, who are we to say we're undeserving? Who are we to say we're not worth it?

Unloving Christians

I went to a retreat recently (right before the hurricane) and on the car ride back someone asked me what was my biggest pet peeve in a christian community. "Unloving Christians" came into mind. Those 2 words feel like an oxymoron to me. How can a christian be unloving when our belief is centered around God's love for us. It's crazy though how unloving christians can be, those who go around judging everyone as if they were created to be better than others, those who walk around bullying and hurting gays because "its part of our religion" (clearly not biblical btw)...it upsets me so much. I know only christians would go around judging each other on whether their actions are "christian-y" or not but have you ever wondered what a non-christian would think when they find out this person is a christian and yet they go around hurting everyone and doing all these things. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ and everything we do, they would take it as "so this what Jesus lovers are, if thats the case I must be better than God since I'm so much nicer/better than them" ONLY christians would give each other the benefit of the doubt and say we aren't created perfect, God still loves you and is waiting for you to repent. Non-christians would only be pushed further away.

1 John 4:8 says "whoever does not love, does not know God because God is love."
God also calls us to not only love him but love our neighbors the way he loves us.

Christians aren't perfect and we will always mess up here and there but we need to be willing to acknowledge our wrongs and repent. We may never become exactly like Jesus Christ but we need to strive to live in his image. For the sake of shining light to our darkened world, for the sake of God's broken heart seeing us like this, for the sake of others, for the sake of what Jesus has done, can't we all just try and love?

Even in Pain...Love.

I was going through a devotional today and it was saying how we can easily pinpoint everyone's bad quality. It's not hard at all to pick on people for their sins but thats not what God has called us to do. God told us to love with no exceptions and love isn't to expose faults but to cover them...to defeat sin with love. That got me thinking about Jesus' crucification. On that cross, he could've exposed each and everyone of us for our wrong doings, for not believing in him, for hating him, for hurting him and eventually killing him but thats not what he did, he chose to pray over us. He asked God to forgive us for our sins and even in that moment of pain, both physical and emotional, he never stopped loving us. He covered our sins with his love for us, by shedding his blood. If Jesus was able to love to that extent, why can't we overlook the little things people do to hurt us and love them for once? Yeah, situations suck and feelings do get hurt but in the end to love someone who isn't love-able is something that can change lives in the long-run.

Sorrow

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." 2 Corinthians 7:10
I was doing my quiet time last night and this verse kind of just popped up and slapped me in the face. For those who are like me and "enjoy" beating themselves up for every little thing they do wrong, I honestly feel like this verse is for you...us.

We, as humans, are sinful and imperfect. We will definitely mess up (a trillion bajillion quadruple millions of times...maybe even more) and feeling guilty about your mess up is totally ok. Its ok to feel grief but what makes this grief not ok is when you let it linger and control you. When we mess up, God doesn't want us to look at ourselves in the mirror and hate on ourselves for what we've done wrong. He wants us to turn to him, apologize, change for the better and let go. Letting go as in not letting it affect you anymore and also turning away from the thing that caused you to sin in the first place. (Letting go is part of forgiveness; whether its forgiving others or ourselves) Jesus already paid the price for our sins, we don't have to go around punishing ourselves and its not healthy to do so either.

Suffering exists and yea it does suck when it happens but it doesn't have to be a bad thing. 

Answered prayers

I was thinking about some of the prayers I prayed in the past, back when I believed in a God I knew nothing about. I didn't know who Jesus was aside from the fact that he is God, or associated with God in some way. I didn't know of the things he's done or the sacrifices he's made. I prayed every night for 2 years I think to this God that I knew nothing about and he actually listened.

To be honest, I don't think I prayed thinking that he would hear me. I think I just prayed because I needed someone there and I believe that he was. It's amazing how these insincere prayers that this confused and lost little girl was praying was still worth His time. It took me a while before I realized God actually answered these prayers and that's because he decided to answer it in a way that was far more than what I had asked for.

I prayed for death and he allowed me to be reborn in him.

I prayed to be adopted into a loving family, and he adopted me into his own.

I prayed for a love that would last forever and he made me aware of his love.

For those of you who constantly think God is too busy to hear your prayers I want you to think again, God listens to every prayer and if you think hard enough I guarantee you will find his answer somewhere. It may or may not be what you asked for but it is definitely 100% for your own good and for the good of his kingdom.

Equally yoked

I was recently exposed to a tumblr post titled "What Kind of Guy Should I be Looking For?"

I have to admit, I agree with everything that was written. There's this one thing though and its been something that I've realized about my fellow females out there. I feel like us girls fall into what I would call "the princess syndrome". Everyone constantly tells us how we deserve nothing but the best, even disney movies got us thinking someday my prince will come. It's true, we are God's precious jewels and we do deserve godly men but at the same time God's men aren't any less loved than we are. They deserve godly woman. Just like how we're told that we don't have to settle for less, our brothers don't have to settle for less either.

Maybe I'm just speaking for myself when I say this but knowing to wait for my godly man to show up made a whole lotta sense to me but never did I once think about being the godly woman that the godly man deserves. There shouldn't be a double standard to this. If us girls go around throwing ourselves at anyone, giving our hearts away to anyone, not respecting ourselves and our bodies the way we would want others to, what makes us worthy of a godly man?

So before you complain about being forever alone and how God is taking forever to bring the guy to you, remember that it takes two people who are ready to serve God together to be in a relationship that glorifies God. Maybe its not that the right guy isn't man enough to be revealed to you, maybe you're the one thats not mature enough for him yet.

The guy said "none but the brave deserve the fair"
the saying works the other way around too...
"none but the fair deserve the brave"

Be deserving of one another.

What Faith Can Do

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Unworthiness

Have you ever sat in a corner and thought to yourself "I am so unworthy, how can God possibly love me? I am undeserving of Jesus' sacrifice"

This is something I have to say I was struggling with since the day I came to Christ, I never really thought much into my feelings of unworthiness, I just thought of it as a personal thing that doesn't influence my feelings towards God or even have anything to do with him because its my own feelings of lack of self-worth...(idk if that made any sense at all)

This year, actually very recently...this week, I finally see the problem. It's true that we are undeserving and unworthy of what Jesus has done don't get me wrong, (I mean thats what Grace is all about. He gave us what we didn't deserve.) But its the very love that he has for us that gives us tremendous worth. He made us worthy..more than worthy. How can we say that we are unworthy and not love ourselves when this man held us with tremendous worth that he was willing to die for us and to go through all the pain that he went through for our sake.

My pastor said something interesting "i believe the gospel has little to do with the worthiness of you or me"
That is very true, i mean if you think about it; the gospel has nothing to do with how worthy we are because God clearly loves us all unconditionally. No matter how messed up we are or what we have done, God sees us  the way our parents would but so many times more. We're his precious jewels, the very ones he love so much. Who are we to judge whether we were worth Jesus' death or not?

So believe me, you are more than worth it Because God said so :]

Good Friday

What exactly is Good Friday? Honestly speaking, I never gave it much thought growing up. No one ever told me what it was, for all I care it just meant Easter was coming and with Easter comes spring break. Easter was nothing but a holiday american people celebrated (which I now know otherwise) in which they hid eggs and candy around their house (probably attracting a bucket full of bugs which I'm much too smart to join in on knowing just how much i "love" those little creatures) and some giant easter bunny with a bowtie comes around (which is obviously as real as the tooth fairy...i guess you can tell i was never much of a fairy-tale believer) It meant absolutely nothing to me...up until I came to Christ that is.

The thing is Good Friday isn't just a Friday that leads up to the goodness of Easter sweets. Good Friday is the day we remember the price Jesus paid on the cross for our sins. At this point, many people wonder why anyone can call the death of a person "good" especially when the person died in such a painful and heartbreaking way.

That was something very hard for me to grasp at first, how his death can be good and how people can rejoice when he went through all that suffering. But then it hit me, the reason why good friday is good is because he gave us life, freedom and hope (just naming a few things) that very day. Good Friday isn't good because some random kid was nailed on the cross and just bled his way to death in the most painfullest way one can possibly imagine; its good because Jesus took on our sins and died so that we may have life.

I found this picture on tumblr randomly one day and something within me clicked. People think that Jesus lacked the ability to save himself because he allowed himself to die on the cross. What we fail to realize is, this Jesus who is dying on the cross, walked across water, saved a bajillion people and fed thousands with a few loaves of bread. That's just a few of the miracles he performed and yet we can believe that that very man was overpowered by a few nails through his body. That doesn't make sense. The very person who turned water into wine and gave a blind man sight...theres no way he can't save himself from this mess, I'm pretty sure more power is needed to let blind man see than to break free from the nails in his body. If he wanted to, I believe he had the full power to just vanish from the cross and he was given the choice to not even die on it. But this very man did die on the cross and nothing couldve held him there besides his love for us. I mean come on, he could easily break the nails, easily ran away, he knew exactly what was going to happen and when the day will come, God even gave him a choice to not go through with the plans and yet he faces this situation out of love. He's done all of this so that we can have life, so that we may not be bound to our sins, so that we will not go to hell and return to our Father's side. He died for the very people who hung him on the cross and He prayed for us despite our disbelief. He loved us til his dying breath and even when we turn away and dont believe this is true, he still continues to loves us.

Good Friday is more than just the friday before easter, it is the day Jesus' love for us saved us all from being bound to hell. The very day love was at its greatest. It is a day for rejoicing and to be fully thankful of his great and amazing unconditional love.

All of God's Plan

Last night, the servant team prayer was cancelled and instead we went to BASIC's one cry pep rally. There the speaker was talking about how people tend to fall short in seeing all of God's plans. When God's plans for us are being played out, there may be a time when things get tough and that is when we are called to persevere and to look towards God and keep pushing on. However, most of us just throw up our hands and give up. Some of us may grow angry with God for being cruel, and some of us may just be like "it is what it is, there's nothing we can do about it, this is what God wants" but thats not what God wants. He wants us to keep bothering him for an answer, he wants us to keep praying and persevere til the time comes when he reveals it all before you. He wants us to be close to him in that sense, to feel comfortable in coming to him with all things in our lives. God wants us to love him and to trust him. God isn't cruel at all, in fact he is quite loving. For every tear we cry, it hurts him a thousand times more. People are probably wondering "then why do we have suffering in our lives?" Well if you really think about it, what is happiness to you if you have never suffered before? When are you most willing to turn to God; in your happiest moments or when you really need help? This is the very reason why obstacles are placed in our lives, so that we can persevere and turn to God. God suffers so that we can live to the fullest. So before we give up and before we start hating him for being mean, lets really just trust him and ask him to show us what it is that he has in store for us. When we fail to see all of God's plans we will get stuck in all the pains of the obstacle and never learn the lesson that came with it. By doing so, we will only cause more pain to ourselves and that isn't God's fault at all. Persevere and have faith!

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 

-Hebrews 10:36

Rejoice

I was sent this link by a good friend of mine through facebook and honestly when I first clicked on it, I just thought it was going to be a typical concert. But ofcourse I was wrong. After watching this video, I just thought to myself like "wow God...I see what you did that...such perfect timing...are you trying to tell me something?" lol I have a problem with making a big deal out of the bad things in life when there are so many blessings in my life to look upon. I have a blessings wall to remind me just how beautiful God has made my life to be and I constantly forget about it or neglect it. You know how people say its easy to come to God when things are good but once crap goes down its a lot harder? Yeahh I never thought I had a problem with that but upon hearing this testimony, I felt condemned...(is that the right way to put it?)

Their mom's dying words were to rejoice. It is easy to rejoice when things are good and everything is nice and bright. We can thank God through all of our blessings but true faith is to rejoice when times are rough and there is pain and suffering. And that really slapped me in the face. Why do I spend so much time complaining about the events going on in my life when I can just go to God with it and rejoice that he is with me through it all. He will never give me something I can't handle and He will always be there to guide me through it. The pains in life teach you valuable lessons, lessons that cannot be taught any other way. And I feel like this is the very reason why we should rejoice in our sufferings. We become greater people.

And that is exactly what I am actively pursuing right now. A heart that is joyful and full of God's love that I can overflow into the lives of those around me. I want to bear the fruits of the spirit and bring hope to this world. I want to bring the love of God into the lives of others and to show them that life isnt that bad afterall, God is still there. There is hope and there is joy. The joy that comes from God's love is something that nothing in life can compare to. And I want the world to see it. I want the world to feel it. So that suffering will no longer be suffering but simply just an obstacle to a greater lesson, a portion of God's awesome plans.

The Finishers by Roger Hershey and Jason Weimer

I started reading the book I bought from Epic Conference last night and I think its pretty insightful from what I got out of the first chapter. There was this paragraph that stood out to me and this is what it said:

" 'There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.' It's an enormous black hole - the unquenchable longing for significance and human glory swallows all our activities, our gifts, our energy, and leaves nothing but emptiness behind."

Its true that us humans have this desire to find our worth and glorify ourselves in worldly ways. Some people may find it through the amount of boyfriends/girlfriends they have, others might think money is the way to satisfy this black hole. The problem is, by using worldly things to fill this hole, the hole will never be filled and it will only be like throwing everything youre living for in a black hole. People and things will always fail you because they are not perfect. We can't let these imperfect things show us how worthy we are as human beings. Success will fade, money can be lost; all of these things are simply temporary. But God is eternal. By filling this hole with God, its like drinking an unlimited amount of ice cold water after 40days of walking through a desert. God can fill this hole and the satisfaction and happiness you will feel after is a feeling only those who had experienced it will understand. its an indescribable amazing feeling to understand that we are worthy because God has made us worthy.

And i guess my point is, i want people to understand this indescribable feeling because i know what it feels like to go from feeling empty to feeling full inside and this amount of happiness that i can guarantee nothing you have ever experienced will amount to the happiness God's love can give you. It's in my prayers that whoever it is that might just randomly end up on this blog will feel a glimpse of this happiness that i have from God and that they too will one day feel the same happiness i do.

do you ever get that feeling of extreme happiness when you take a step back and look at the beauty of this world? i remember so vividly the many times i look up from have a long day and noticing how beautiful life is. God made the clouds perfectly puffy and the sky is nice and blue. the trees have that nice tint of green and everything just blends in perfectly. birds are chirping, airplanes are flying. perfection and beauty. sometimes its not even a nice spring day like that, sometimes the sky is gray and everything is foggy and damp but this sense of beauty still shines through. you just gotta really notice it. the sun shining behind those dark gray clouds giving it a strange glow. the trees swaying in the wind and rain. the fog making everything look soft as if youre walking within a cloud. idk how to describe it but these are God's fingerprints, he created it all. i usually only notice on a bad day (which really shouldnt be the case) but everywhere, everyday its there. we just gotta take a step back and admire it all. this world may be broken but his beauty shines through. at night i like to look up at the stars, it brings me a weird sense of joy. its a part of God's wonderful and beautiful creation. i kinda feel like the stars look better back at home but ehhh it doesnt matter lol they all the same ;] my point is, even these every day little things we take for granted are blessings. God is here, right there with you. he fills my heart with joy and i hope he does the same for you :]

What is the Definition of Love?

Love is to nourish someone to maturity (emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally) and to cherish them by protecting them from anything that keeps them from getting nourished and providing them with the nourishment.

- Josh McDowell

We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

I just watched this clip about how a girl approached her dad after finding out she's pregnant. Her reason for having sex was because she felt like she wasn't pretty enough or skinny enough to be extraordinary but for one night she wanted to feel special. That got me thinking, is that why underage girls put themselves in a position where they harm themselves, body and mind, in such a way? The media tells us we're not pretty enough, we're not skinny enough and to some people (like me) we're not tall enough..no matter what we look like, we're never enough. But that's so wrong. Since when did people have the right to tell us whether we are worthy or not? Half of the people who created these "standards" barely meet them at all and yet we allow them to tell us what makes us beautiful. Psalm 139:14 says "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." God created us to be wonderful, he made us beautiful and not by the society's standards but by his standards. What people/society think of you really doesn't matter because they didn't create you. God made you amazing, he made you beautiful. And this doesn't just apply to girls out there but to guys as well. A guy doesn't have to be tall dark and buff to be outstanding nor does his worth come from the amount of girls he's been with. God made us all to be outstanding people, he created us to be amazing in our own ways. And that, is where our worth comes from.