Everybody Needs Grace

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[everybodyneedsgrace-blog]

Open letter; Guys.

Hey,

Before I start..This isn’t me calling anyone out, this is an open letter to the guys, well christian guys.. (my brothers in christ).

1: Strength.

In the world we live in and in the society we live in, your worth, your strength and you masculinity is based on how “bad” you are, how many women you sleep with, how much money you make, how esteemed you are infront of certain people. Yes, it is though because you are serving a God that requires you to be meek and humble.

It is tough being a christian male in environments and in jobs which require you to be tough, which require strength.. any sign of weakness is somewhat not accepted.

Just the other day I was talking to God, and I asked Him ‘What is strength to You?’. You know the world is telling males that strength is one thing but as Christians what is strength? He said sometimes strength is not seen in the things that you do but strength is seen in the things that you don’t choose to do; the things that you don’t conform to.

An aspect of God’s strength is Him being long-suffering. You know there are things that the world will require you to do, sometimes it takes more strength for you not to do it. Strength is seen in you NOT choosing to sleep around with loads of women, you not choosing to see your worth in how much money you make and you choosing not to see your masculinity in your physical appearance or how many times you can hit the gym. It takes more strength and more discipline to not conform to the world. Strength is in your choices not to compromise! God sees you having more than everyone else that chooses conform and give in to fleshly desires.

Strength is seen in your determination and zeal to follow God, even in dark places.

2: Integrity, Honour and respect.

This is more around relationships. When I got to uni, I thought YES! I have so many options now, I can find me a christian boyfriend, you know, someone who actually will care for me and not leave me when he’s finished what he wants to do. BUT I got a HORRIBLE realisation that to some degree, I had to be more careful of christian guys than I was of men in the world. Now, I’m not saying all christian men are the same, Ive just seen/heard it happen too many times that ladies who have just been saved come into the church and feel like its a safe where they can let their guard down, they can be vulnerable and not build up walls to guard their hearts. So they come into church, see the guys worshipping, speaking in tongues, lifting holy hands and all that jazz.. then they starting coming up to you, seeing you as a safe place.. trust occurs.. and then you take advantage of that. AGAIN I’m not saying every christian guy is the same, please hear me out. Ive just seen it too many times, where guys in the church take advantage of ladies that have been hurt before and are looking for guys to trust and you know they feed off of that.. then ladies become more broken because if I can’t trust someone who’s supposed to love me like Christ then who am I support to trust as a man?

One thing I really want to put across is your actions speak SO MUCH LOUDER than your words. Your actions speak so much louder than the christian antics on Sundays. You have to carry Christ. It doesn’t matter what you do on Sunday. If your conduct during the week doesn’t line up with God, you’re giving off mixed signals and its confusing. Always remember there are people watching you!

Say NO to false expectations! Always strife to be honest, to have respect for yourselves and females too!

Last thing I have to say is make sure you have a HEART for God. Proverbs 31 (Yes its for women) says that charm and beauty will fade away. All the physical things that you’re holding on to will soon fade away. Proverbs 1-30 makes a true man, where it talks about integrity and wisdom. Now I’m not saying that you have to be perfect, I’m saying you don’t have to compromise your walk with God to be more attractive to the opposite sex. Never romanticise sin!!

Be a man after God’s heart, regardless of what it costs, regardless of it requires you to give up (reputation, time, strength). God will uphold you and elevate you!

Love from Grace

[everybodyneedsgrace-blog]

Leave your Mark.

Hey,

As we all know, there is going to be a time where we either die or Jesus will come back. Either way, we will be judged.

The way we live our lives today can actually determine someone else's salvation. There are people that we are friends with that do not go to church, they may say that they are Christians but don't attend church, they may not read the bible.. So in a sense, the way you live is the only "church" that they will see. You are the 'Christianity' in their life (if that makes sense).

If you were to die today, what legacy would you have left behind? What will you be remembered by/for? Deep questions… Or if someone close to you dies for example (God forbid), do you think in their journey of life you helped them? Would you feel like you did everything you possibly could to make sure they were right with God?

As Christians, when we see people doing wrong we are scared to correct them because we know in ourselves that we aren't perfect... So there's a fear that it will get throw back in our faces. We aren't perfect, we need to be helping each other out. We need to be investing into people's salvation. We need to be giving time to people that need help. There are many people in our lives that are struggling right now, going through one thing or the other and all we are saying is "I'll pray for you" or "you are healed in Jesus name!". You know, sometimes YOU are the solution to the problems a person might face.. It might be that God has put the solution in you to deliver to the person but you're saying God will sort it out.

I just want you guys to ask yourselves in your heart 'where will you leave your mark?'

The way we can leave a positive imprint in someone's life is if we are filled with The Holy Spirit.. If we have EMPTIED out our own desires and have taken on the desire of God for other people. The bible says in John 15:13 'Greater love has one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends' and Romans 10:14 says 'How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?'

A lot of us are privileged to have been going to church or to have been exposed to Jesus from when we were young, some of us don't have that privilege. There are people that are struggling in one way or the other and the solution is so simple, but because they don't know about Jesus. How can they know if we do not tell them?

Again, where will you leave your mark? This is something that I'm asking myself. I don't want you guys to think that I have it all figured out.. I really don't.

It does seem like a big responsibility but when you take care of God's business, when you are doing what He says, He will take care of your business.

Everyone leaves a mark. For good, bad or indifferent, we all leave footprints behind us. We will be remembered for our generosity or selfishness. There's only one way to leave a Christ-like-mark. You cannot do it by yourself. You cannot find life in loving God and loving the people around you, because it is a commandment. Scriptures make it so clear that the letter kills, but the gospel brings life (2nd Corinthians 3:6).

Take Christ's of mercy, allow Him to fill you with His Spirit, and watch as He empowers and teaches you how to love Him and others.

Love from Grace.

[everybodyneedsgrace-blog]

Stay Beautiful and Stay Positive.

Hey,

The reason I’m writing about this is because I want everything you read/see/watch on this blog to be on a foundation of positivity.

When it comes to beauty, a lot people are only able to perceive their individual idea and identity of beauty because of certain experiences.

The biggest factor which influenced my idea of how to perceive myself as beautiful was SCHOOL. Throughout my primary and secondary school, I was CHUBBY BUNNY.. Yes, I look back at pictures and it makes me cringe at how chubby I used to be.

I feel like it got to a stage (not too sure whether it was sixth form or uni) where I was tired of staring in the mirror, thinking to myself.. ‘I wonder what he/she will think if I look/dress this way’ or beating myself up about how 'fat’ I was. I had to start building my confidence; wake up every morning and be like 'I’m beautiful’, regardless of any situation or past thing that I was involved in..even when I looked like crap and I looked completely ridiculous…I had to say it. Small things like that helped bring up my self esteem and it’s what helped get rid of negative thoughts. I believe you need to speak positivity into your life/day/week.

Another big factor is The Media. Yes.. I study media production, BUT there is media and there is THE MEDIA. The Media likes to portray this idea of beauty: thin waist, big hips, big bum, fair skin, long hair bla bla bla… If you look completely opposite to that, OF COURSE you’re not going to feel beautiful! How on earth will you feel beautiful if the media is not even portraying the other side of beauty?! You need to be able to look past that. Do not let the media define the standards of your beauty. Every single person has their own beauty standards; they are INDIVIDUAL to YOU!

That’s a key thing that I think helped me in developing my idea of beauty. I’m the type of person that is VERY easily influenced (unfortunately), by pictures, by quotes, by conversations.. But the second you decide to look past that, tell yourself 'I’m beautiful in MY OWN WAY!’ Don’t allow pictures or the “ideal woman” to affect you. The second you believe and see yourself as beautiful, those pictures won’t matter anymore! The value of your beauty doesn’t decrease on society’s inability to see your worth.. remember that!!

To understand how unique and different you are a being/individual, I found two scriptures which are:

1) Psalm 139:13 - 'For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb’.

2) Jeremiah 1:5 - 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations’.

God made us for a purpose, we are UNIQUE!  He made us difference to each other so each person can catch their own beauty from within THEMSELVES!

Sometimes I feel like God is really upset with us. I feel like He’s saying 'Why don’t you love yourself? I spent so much time on you and made sure I made you just the way you are for a reason’

We should understand that God sees us and He sees perfection. God is perfect and He created me, so I carry traits of perfection. It doesn’t matter what anyone tells me.. None of them created me! That’s just how you have to see things. The world has a very funny way of trying to put people down and trying to get at people’s appearances, but like I said before; DON'T LET IT GET TO YOU.. You are UNIQUE and BEAUTIFUL!!

Scripture to remember: Songs of Solomon 4:7

STAY BEAUTIFUL AND STAY POSITIVE!

Love from Grace.