Don't Be A Vibrating Puppy!

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As I was riding in the car with my dog Emily earlier this afternoon she was nervous out of her mind. She was shaking so bad she was almost vibrating like my phone. I was trying to hold her still and calm her down by petting her and telling her, "It's okay", (which she understands, she is actually pretty smart). Nothing was working.

As I was trying to comfort my vibrating dog I thought about how God tries to comfort us. God always has His arms around us while all we can do is shake because we are focused intently on our fear instead of our God, but which one has the real control? How much do we sacrifice at the alter of fear merely on a daily basis?

If we ask God to comfort us He will comfort us. "Shout for joy you heavens; rejoice, you earth, burst into song , you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones (Isaiah 49:13, NIV)". How blessed we are to have a loving God who comforts His people. He could send flaming porcupines shooting at us daily when we are scared and alone but instead He comforts us, because He is that kind of God.

None of us deserve to be comforted by God. We shake our proverbial fists at Him everyday and He has every right to be mad at us. ". . . I will praise you, Lord. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation (Isaiah 12: 1,2, NIV)". Because God comforts us even though we don't deserve it, He is our salvation. He loves us and always keeps us in mind when we are hurting even though we don't deserve it.

In Paul's second letter to the church of Corinth he says:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. . ."
(2 Corinthians 1:3-5, NIV)

Comfort , just like love, flows from God. This is God's calling for all of us who receive that comfort, to comfort others. Maybe you are friends with someone who isn't a believer and they can't pray to God for comfort like you can, yet they are going through a really hard time. God calls you to comfort them, because what is the point of comfort if you can't give it to someone else?

Our God is a God of comfort. Even when we feel alone and we are afraid, all we have to do is ask God for comfort and He will give it to us. We don't deserve His comfort but He gives it to us anyways. The comfort we receive from Him we should share with others. So don't be a vibrating dog, get some of that good Jesus comfort!

Let God's Grace Melt Your Face

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Written By: Tyla and Caleb
God's grace is not something that I've thought a whole lot about. It wasn't until my friend and I started brainstorming that I really began to appreciate it.

When I first looked up the word grace in the Bible I found the word "disgrace" a whole lot more than "grace". This shows that when grace is shown to us we most of the time misuse it and "do not learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:10, NIV) from it. God lavishes us with grace while we shake our proverbial fists at Him daily.

That's how powerful God's grace is. God committed suicide for us as the ultimate sacrifice so that those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God may be free from the burden of sin and worship Him eternally in Heaven. God gave us that for what price on our part? How about FREE! God is giving us everything for nothing and we turn our heads the other way as if we see nothing.

Who does God's grace cover? God says we are all saved by grace so that "no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9, NIV). If grace is for anyone that means it can change anyone if they allow it to change them. If we say, "I doubt that person will get saved, there is no hope for them", then we should look in the mirror. When we look in the mirror let's remind ourselves who we are staring at, we are staring at someone who is broken, who is a born sinner, who has no hope outside of Jesus Christ. Once we were saved by Jesus, he found us afraid and in the dark while we were walking down the road to destruction.  Nobody is beyond saving, if we are saying they aren't then we are underestimating God and His grace. No one deserves to be saved. No one deserves God's grace, but we are all capable of receiving it.

Having God's grace is one thing, applying God's grace is very different. Take a look:

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you."
(Titus 2:11-15, NIV)

Since we have been given the powerful gift of God's grace, we should respond by being little Jesus' until Jesus comes back (which nobody knows when that is going to happen). God charges us to use His grace to live godly lives so we can tell others about the grace of God and expand God's kingdom. Without grace this would be impossible.

While we are being said little Jesus' we should be compassionate and "forgiving each other" (Ephesians 4:32, NIV) just like Jesus forgave us. It's really a simple question of "what would Jesus do?" Many people think that our ultimate hope is Heaven, those people aren't taking God's powerful grace into account. If you look back over Titus 2:11-15 up above you will find that our ultimate hope is Jesus coming back.

God's grace is overwhelming, how could we even measure the stuff (with a grace-o-meter of course!!!!!)? He lavishes it on our undeserving selves everyday so let us be compassionate and forgiving towards one another until our ultimate hope arrives: JESUS!!!

Silly Christian! Lenten Is For God!

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Lent is a Catholic tradition that is practiced in a lot of churches today (Catholic or not). It seems that a lot of people get the wrong idea about it. A lot of people will tell you that Lent is about sacrificing something for the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. When we ask most people why they are giving something up for Lent they wouldn't be able to tell you. After all, why question tradition?

As Americans, we spend so much time on ourselves daily. It's so much of a habit that we don't even think about it most of the time. Most of our time is spent feeding ourselves, making sure we get enough sleep, making sure we don't miss our favorite show on TV. As a culture we are obsessed with ourselves. Our day is so full of just us that we don't leave time for God.

A lot of people miss the point of Lent. They think it's just about sacrificing something. Someone might go without chocolate for the forty days and I heard about someone who went without spending money. He was so serious about not spending money that he used up all the gas on his parent's car and coasted on home not bothering to stop at a gas station. I see a problem here.

Lent isn't a sacrifice competition. It's about bringing God back into our lives. It's about bringing the focus away from ourselves and bringing to focus to God and His people. We should use this Lenten season to get engaged in the community and God and make sacrifices to do so. We are responsible for the community we live in. We are responsible for the souls of the people in the community that we live in. God calls us to be culturally engaged to share the gospel with others. We are to be "the salt of the earth" (Mat. 5:13).

Lent isn't just about sacrificing, it's about sacrificing to become closer to God and His people. Lent is about bringing that balance back into our lives that we tend to lose between time for ourselves and time for God and others. So let's become culturally engaged and get us some quality God time.