A Reminder: You're AWESOME!!!

Today, I DARE YOU to read this and not feel AWESOME!  

These are reminders of the promises God has for you taken straight out of the Bible. Scripture references follow--check it out!

So, if no one's told you lately--let me remind you of 

HOW AWESOME YOU ARE!!!

I'm under God's Grace (Unmerited Favor).

He calls me Beloved.

I make God happy.

God chose me.

God selected me.

My life is worthwhile, meaningful, gratifying and will leave a legacy.

Before He laid down the Earth's foundations, God had me in mind.

I am holy and blameless before God.

I've been adopted by God Himself.

God has kind intentions for me.

I have an inheritance.

God works EVERYTHING that happens to me for my good.

I am accepted.

God gave me the right to become His own child.

Whether or not my parents were aware of it, God planned my birth!

I have the Spirit of God in my heart.

I have a close relationship with Jesus, the Son of the Creator of the universe!

If I'm tired and worn out, Jesus will give me rest.

God DOES NOT disapprove of me or reject me.

I've been rescued.

I've been transferred from darkness to the Kingdom of Heaven.

I've been forgiven.

I've been made NEW.

My wrongs have been overlooked.

My faults have been removed.

I'm a new creature.

My old self no longer exists, there's a BRAND NEW version of ME.

NEXT ON MY AGENDA: WORLD TAKEOVER DUE TO AWESOMENESS!!!

And here's Bible-proof of why you're so dang awesome:

To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

Ephesians 1:6

"Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."

2 Corinthians 5:9

"You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you."

John 15:16

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will."

Ephesians 1:5

"Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will."

Ephesians 1:11

"Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God."

Romans 15:7

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh not of the will of man, but of God."

John 1:12

"Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge."

2 Corinthians 1:21

God is faithful, through whom  I was called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ my Lord."

1 Corinthians 1:9

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "

Matthew 11:28

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:1

"And you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority."

Colossians 2:10

"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Colossians 1:14

"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:1

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

Psalm 103:10, 12

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away"

Mean People Suck!

Christians can be really...mean! Sometimes we're the most fake, gossipy, judgmental people on the planet. Heck, I don't even like to refer to myself as a Christian just because of the negative connotation it has in our generation--and I'm a pastor! I mean, have you ever been flipped off by a driver with a Christian fish on their car? I think we can all relate.

As the ambassadors of Christ, Christians inform the world around us of who Jesus is. Mahatma Gandhi said it best "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Jesus taught us about patience. Jesus taught us about kindness. Jesus taught us that God is merciful. So, when do we need mercy and kindness and patience shown to us? When life is full of rainbows and kitties? NO! When it sucks that we just made some mistake that we're embarrassed of! That's when we need mercy! And that's when God gives us unmerited favor--when we need it--when we messed up! 

This seems just the opposite of what most of us have been taught: when we're "good" God is patient and kind to us but when we're "bad" God leaves us until we straighten up and act right...then eventually God is once again available in our life. But that's just a horribly mean way to treat people! Jesus already paid our debt! We don't have to earn our right to be accepted by God--that's already been taken care of by Jesus! We are never rejected, God's with us all the time!

Maybe we Christians forget this freeing revelation...maybe we were taught to jump through hoops and so we think everybody else needs to. Regardless, let's forgive those who've hurt us and begin a NEW generation of believers who are so in love with Jesus that we act like Him and promote His teachings of GRACE, KINDNESS, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE and LOVE! 

That's the kind of Christian who WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!

Hebrews 4:16 Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.

--Heidi Elznic

Inspiration For Starting Over (for the 9th time)

I put out the call for all who needed to be whacked by God's favor to come join us, and they have!!  Whether they read the blog or not, THEY'RE HERE!  I am now suddenly surrounded by people who need a second chance in something in their life for the umpteenth time. Maybe it's their job, their marriage, their career choice, their parenting, their sobriety...whatever it is, it's a make or break window in all our lives. There is hope in the air.  Maybe it's guarded hope, but it's definitely hope!

Starting over is harder... the 9th time!  The first time you try, you may need a little push but the 9th time, you basically need to dig yourself out of your premature grave, drink a couple pots of coffee and quit looking in the toilet at your past.  We need to let go of past failures: we can move on physically without moving on mentally, we have to fully let go of mistakes or we will relive them in our minds. 

Second attempts challenge our persistence, creativity, mental agility, knowledge and talent (am I leaving anything out?) TO THE MAX!  On the bright side, a second attempt is a more educated attempt. Tell yourself you're smarter this time around!  Think of Edison or the Wright Brothers who knew thousands of ways to NOT make a light-bulb or build an airplane.  They earned a place of honor because they were determined to keep going!  History is made by people who didn't know how to quit, and they all have a tale to tell of how they did it!  Very few people had success fall into their laps! If you want it, you give 100% because nothing big ever came out of someone's half-hearted attempt to kinda do something.  Sort-of doing something results in something that's sort-of done.  

Sometimes we hope to outsmart ourselves: we try to safeguard our emotions by not getting our hopes up but God made us to hope.  Think of anyone you know of who refuses to hope: they've had their cheerios peed on too many times and they're ready to pee on yours!  When we shield ourselves from expectations, we sentence ourselves to only a fraction of what our life could become.  We think we're building a fortress to protect ourselves, but we're really building a wall between us and potential solutions that can lead to our dreams.  We are only safe from defeat when we quit taking it personally, quit making it a bigger deal than it is (nobody died), or just quit!

Enthusiasm & heart get us farther in life than talent and knowledge any day of the week!  Think of it this way: there's people smarter than you, prettier than you, with more money than you, who are older (or younger) than you, better equipped than you, who have had more opportunities than you who have already quit!  We are more than conquerors: the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us! If you try again maybe you'll look like an idiot, but maybe you'll look like you heard from God!  And if you do end up hearing a chuckle or two, who's laughing? Your critics?!  They're already laughing, they'll laugh whether you win or lose so who cares if they're laughing?! Don't they have something better to do? I guess their preoccupation with your life already answers that question! 

At the Fusion, we are doing something different.  God brought us this far and there's no way we would be at this place if God didn't have His hand on us!  And He didn't bring us, or YOU, this far so we could all fail!  Let our story remind you that GOD believes in YOU! And I leave you with this thought: you're not a failure when you try something and it doesn't work, you're a failure only when you quit trying.