It's Not Your Fault

It's not my fault! Isn't that the cry of the human heart?! Nobody had to teach my kids to say that when something goes wrong. Isn't that what us adults still say? But we say it in a more intelligent way as we logically point out the deviant who's clogging up the system, all to say (with a sigh of relief) "Look, it's NOT me!".  Adam & Eve infamously stated "it wasn't me, it was that woman you gave me," or "it was the snake's fault," as their most convincing argument of their innocence for God Almighty in the Garden.

"It wasn't me, it was the one-armed man!"

Maybe we'll all be relieved to know that we've been telling the truth all along: it's NOT your fault!!! This statement that irritates anyone who's ever been on the receiving end is actually the truth! Maybe there's a reason this statement is so deeply embedded into us. Maybe it's for a GOOD reason--not some lame cop out.

So here it is: GOD LOVES YOU AND IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! You didn't have to DO anything for God to love you! You don't have to earn His love. You don't have to act a certain way, be a certain way, do a certain thing, think a certain thought or feel certain feelings! You don't have to focus to say the right thing or work to become better or make yourself more compliant or strong or appealing or acceptable...God loves you and it's NOT YOUR FAULT! 

Now, some of you are thinking, "Don't you have to believe in God for Him to love you?" But scripture says God loved us BEFORE we were Jesus followers (Romans 5:8). He WANTS to be with us no matter where we go (Psalm 139:8)! He will NEVER abandon us (Colossians 1:21)! We don't have to become good enough for God to accept us (Colossians 1:22)! He's a good Daddy who WANTS to give us stuff (Romans 8:32)! He's done all the work for us while we just bask in His unconditional love (Ephesians 2:8-9)!

God made it so easy: you don't have to try to remember all the Bible verses or sermons or flowery inspirational thoughts so you can make God happy--I don't know about you, but those things don't just jump into my brain when I actually need them. And when I rely on myself to get me out of a jam, I'm just setting myself up for failure. Why? Because I could have done it better! Always! The more I know, the more I have to remember, the more I'm accountable for, the more I have to do to feel like I did it right! If only I were more _______! If only I had said _______! If only I'd done _______! I've NEVER MEASURED UP! I've never felt like I've done anything PERFECT! Not once! Not even on my best days!

So, throw all that away and exchange it for the intoxicating thought that the God of the universe lives inside of you! He loves you! He has everything you'll ever need and more! And He loves you just the way you are and it's not your fault! God accepts you the way you are and it's not your fault! God wants to be with you and it's not your fault! 

 

You didn't do anything to earn it, you can't do anything to lose it...GOD IS CRAZY ABOUT YOU AND IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

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

Criminal Finds Success

This past week I was reminded of the first time I stole something. I started my criminal record as a hardened 3 years old, and I stole a Siamese kitten from my grandparent's cat's recent litter. I wanted that kitten, but my parents said no. So as we got ready to leave my grandparent's house, I quickly tucked the little ball of fluff under my coat while my parents were busy saying their goodbyes. 

Now, I don't know how I thought I was going to keep this cat a secret but I guess somehow I thought it would work out, so I was terrified when a few miles down the road a faint "mew" escaped from inside of my coat! My Dad slammed on the breaks and began to scold me, but with my Mom's coaxing he saw how much I wanted the kitten and that's how I got to keep my Siamese cat named Tiger...and how I saw the benefits of theft. (Check out next week's blog "Stealing is BAD") Growing up, Tiger and I were inseparable: he seemed to know he was my cat, he slept on my bed every night and just days after I went to college, my Mom found that old cat had died on my bed, curled up in his sleep. The memory of stealing Tiger brought up all the emotions of fear turning to joy that I had experienced as a 3 year old boy.

Remembering the good that's happened in our lives awakens powerful emotions. 

Unfortunately, the same happens when we're reminded of the negative events in our lives: we instantly become discouraged and frustrated.

Negative memories actually take up more space in our brains than positive memories since we usually process the negative over and over. It's like a movie playing in our minds as we watch the negative event unfold and soon we're thinking about how we could have done it better, what we should have said, and the frustration of our failures. But we don't have to watch this movie! We CAN change the channel.

We can't move on to the good things Jesus has in store for us if we stay on the bad.

Bad breaks happen to us all so we have to train our minds to remember the good. God never told us to remember our defeats. Just imagine what would happen if we'd spend our time going over our successes instead of our defeats! 

In the past, God instructed His people to throw week-long parties several times a year just to celebrate their victories! We can celebrate our victories everyday if we just take a moment to dwell on how we met our spouse, when we kicked an addiction, how Jesus set us free, or the memory of the day our kids were born--God gave us amazing victories before, He can do it again! 

Go over all the successes in life: remember how God protected you when you couldn't protect yourself, advanced you beyond what you were qualified to do, helped you make the right decision...or gave you a childhood friend when what you really deserved was a spanking! Remember the WIN--not all the mistakes made in the process!

Don't stay busy remembering what you should be forgetting. Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions--change the channel when it's negative. We all have bad breaks sometimes, but it's worth the effort to remember all the GOOD God has done for us!

Our Lord, I will remember the things You have done, Your miracles of long ago. I will think about each one of Your mighty deeds. Everything You do is right, and no other god compares with You. Psalm 77:11-13

Merry Christmas from the Fusion!

British soldiers were spending Christmas Eve 1914 on a French battlefield during World War I. After four months of fighting, over a million men had perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers were scattered between the trenches of the opposing armies.

It was in the middle of a freezing battlefield in France, that a miracle occurred! British troops watched in amazement as candle-lit trees appeared above the German trenches.

“From the German parapet, a rich baritone voice had begun to sing a song I remember my German nurse singing to me ... the grave and tender voice rose out of the frozen mist. It was all so strange ... like being in another world,” a young British soldier wrote in his diary.

“Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm. All is bright.”

When the German soldiers finished singing, the British decided to retaliate. Rather than retaliate with the roar of a cannon, the army chaps from England sang,

“The first noel, the angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay ...”

When the boys from jolly old England finished, “Born is the King of Israel!”, the enemy began clapping and struck up a rousing rendition of “Oh Tannebaum!”

When the British troops began singing, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful!”, it was at that moment that the Germans immediately joined in. They were singing with the enemy.

This was a most extraordinary event taking place in the middle of a blood-drenched battlefield! Two opposing nations were singing the same Christmas Carol in the middle of a fierce war. It is recorded that enemy soldiers greeted each other in the no man’s land that just minutes before had been a killing zone. Soldiers wished one another a Merry Christmas and agreed not to fire their rifles on Christmas Day.

Thousands of soldiers celebrated the birth of the Prince of Peace among the bodies of their dead.

A solitary voice began to sing “Silent Night” in French ... he was joined by another voice singing in German ... and finally the words were in English.

Who do you need to make peace with this season? Have you been engaged in a fierce battle that has extracted the very life from your soul? Christmas is a moment in history when peace is abundantly possible because of the Baby who came to bring peace for all of the ages.

Excerpt taken from YouVersion.com's Christmas Bible reading plan Joy! To Your World

Need a Bible? Go to YouVersion.com and take your pick for FREE!

JOY: a lifestyle

It's Christmas time--the time when we celebrate Jesus' birth. There's an overall confusion about Jesus these days. Some think He was a Jew with a Mexican name. Some think He was a lot like Mr. Rogers (I ask you, who would crucify Mr.Rogers?!). Some think He gave us a bunch of ridiculous rules and unreasonable standards to load us full of guilt and shame.

The truth is, Jesus invaded our world to bring joy! Not a momentary feeling but a whole lifestyle of joy. And how was He going to do that? By bringing us the news of grace, the best news ever which is simply: quit trying! You don't have to DO anything but simply believe! 

Here's some quick theology to explain why: Jesus' death on the cross ended the old covenant and began a new one. The old covenant teaches all the things that you have to DO to be acceptable to God, like the 10 commandments. The NEW covenant teaches that Jesus already did it all! The old covenant requires us to examine our lives over and over to see where we've failed, but the new covenant turns our eyes away from ourselves and we instead focus on Jesus!  (Theology lesson over...throw yourself a party: you survived!)

Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we are no longer demanded to perform since it's not about what we can do or what we should do--it's about what Jesus has already done. It's not about trying harder--it's about simply believing that Jesus is who He said He is: the perfect sacrifice once and for all who fulfilled every requirement of the law on our behalf.  If we have to act a certain way for God to accept us, that would mean that Jesus' death on the cross wasn't enough, which isn't true. So we get to QUIT TRYING! We simply believe to become a Jesus-follower, and we simply believe to live the life of a Jesus-follower. We don't have to DO--just believe!  Your own efforts to live a "good" life just plain SUCK compared to depending on Jesus and Jesus alone for victory! This is the crazy-good news (gospel) that Jesus came to Earth to GIVE to us. The gospel of grace is what the apostle Paul calls the ONLY gospel! And truly understanding God's grace leads to relief & thankfulness which leads to a LIFESTYLE OF JOY!

So quit trying, let go of all the guilt and condemnation, stop working and wondering if you measure up! Jesus did it ALL for you! All you need to do is BELIEVE! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here's some scripture to start you off...there's way more...do your own research Galatians is a great place to start :)

Romans 11:6

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Galatians 2:21 

I don't turn my back on God's gift of undeserved grace. If we can be acceptable to God by obeying the Law, it was useless for Christ to die.

Hebrews 10:11-12 

The priests do their work each day, and they keep on offering sacrifices that can never take away sins.  But Christ offered himself as a sacrifice that is good forever. Now he is sitting at God's right side,

Colossians 2:14 

God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross.

Galatians 3:1-5

You stupid Galatians! I told you exactly how Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. Has someone now put an evil spell on you? I want to know only one thing. How were you given God's Spirit? Was it by obeying the Law of Moses or by hearing about Christ and having faith in him? How can you be so stupid? Do you think that by yourself you can complete what God's Spirit started in you? Have you gone through all of this for nothing? Is it all really for nothing? God gives you his Spirit and works miracles in you. But does he do this because you obey the Law of Moses or because you have heard about Christ and have faith in him?

Galatians 1:6-9 

I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you with his gift of undeserved grace. You have believed another message, when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ. I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn't matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven. I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed.

When You've Messed Up So Bad

Have you ever thought you've messed up so bad that you're not sure how you'll ever fix it? You watched your future go down the drain and your hope shrivels up and you experience a pain in your chest that is SO BIG that it just feels...numb. 

You're not sure how you got there, but it's not good. You know you've gotta get out of there, but how?

So you begin to try, but every attempt just puts you back down in that black hole. Faith becomes as elusive as luck, hope is reduced to wishing. The worst keeps happening over and over, the bottom dropping out again and again...so you begin to expect it. It's safe to expect the worst. then you're not disappointed.

But expecting the worst doesn't safeguard us from disappointment--it's the vehicle of disappointment! When we're cynical, everywhere we go we'll just see more to be skeptical about. Cynicism breeds cynicism! And here's the worst thing: it closes our eyes to all the good that's already around us! It deafens our hearts to the encouragement God is speaking to us on a daily basis. When we're not thankful until the BIG THING happens, then we're missing the WHOLE THING because it's the little details, the small everyday kind of miracles that make our lives so rich, not some destination, some moment when we've magically arrived! 

Live life to the fullest! Sometimes life is pain, but pain isn't always bad. Sometimes it's the pain of change as God is bringing something new to your life, rather than the pain of injury. Experience it all! Don't reason away the good God wants to give you--don't doubt it away--but believe for the impossible! Dream! Risk! Hope! Try it again! Look for the best from God and you'll be sure to find it! The Creator of the Universe promised you some good things in your lifetime--you can trust God when He makes a promise!

Joshua 23:14 AMP

...Know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one thing of them has failed.