Awakening: An Open Book - Unify!

You know, I am not "educated" in theology or anything like that. I do not even have a college degree. What I do have is a personal relationship with my Father, Savior and Comforter. I gain the majority of my knowledge from the Bible, the book that is alive and active and speaks to me.

One thing that I have seen and heard over the past several years of being in church is the great dispute between discipling and saving all people. My question is why on earth is there even a dispute between them?! Both are biblical. What I've seen are the 2 types of people, the 2 different callings and passions. There are those who are called to go out and to speak to whoever they can wherever they can and the goal is to bring forth an encounter with Jesus Christ and in that reap a soul into the kingdom of God. Then there are those whose purpose is to take those who have encountered Christ and teach them how to grow and mature spiritually. Both of these types of people are right! Neither is wrong! Jesus came to seek and saved the lost. He also commanded us to go make disciples in all nations, meaning of all people.

What I am getting frustrated with is the competition or "I'm right and you're wrong" bickering that is going on between the 2 groups of people. If you are called to teach are you telling those who are called to sing that they're wrong?... NO! We are the body of Christ. 1 body, many parts. That's it. God created us all specifically to have different callings.

So why don't we please get over ourselves and our pride and stop worrying about someone else's calling and worry about our own? If we can do that then we can glorify God in the calling that he has placed on our own lives. If you are called to speak to thousands in order to seek and saved the lost than do that with all that is in you!!! If you are called to disciple and teach a smaller group, than do that with all that you are!!! Quit fussing at each other and bringing division into the body of Christ!

God is calling each and every single one of us to awaken into our destinies. He wants us to rise up and move! Move in what you've been given. Move toward his goal of reaching and loving all people. Do it in the manner that he has called you to! Let's unify together under Christ and really make an impact!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

Awakening to Grace

Awakening: An Open Book 

I have recently been reading in Genesis. Over the past couple of days I have read Jacob's story. In this I have realized that God's grace is shown even in the old testament. 

I am a new testament girl, Jesus says do this, don't do this, show love, serve others, etc. The old testament is hard for me because it's just stories. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's just more difficult for my comprehension. But God has used Jacob's story to show me a new realization of something I already knew.

Don't you just live when that happens?! It's like a bookshelf. The shelf is the foundation and what holds the things. Overtime if we don't take everything piled up on the shelf and wipe it off, dust can settle and we can forget what the shelf looks like, it's true color. God does this to me all the time. He takes off all of the other beliefs and ideas I've piled on top of my foundation and gets all the dust off so I'm reminded of the real color of the fundamental truth.

I was saved only by God's grace through his son Jesus Christ. So that fundamental truth of grace and it's awesomeness is inside of me. A part of my personality that has existed for as long as I have has been my very black & white, right & wrong understanding. Even though I received grace, I hadn't ever fully understood it. I still don't think anyone can fully understand grace. But one area that I have struggled in is viewing actions and wondering why God doesn't react in a certain way. Reading all of the mess-up's and mishaps of Jacob I began to question and ask God why he still blessed him and why Jacob was still prosperous. I just could not understand.

Through all of that and some situations and circumstances in my life God began to show me that his grace is bigger than any sin we can ever commit. That he will continue to pour out his grace on everyone so that those who don't know him will know him and those who do will be taken care of. We are all his children that he loves so dearly. Yes God does HATE sin and we get punished for our mistakes, but the punishment does not equal the end of our lives or the end of God's love for us. Grace, it's our second chance, our third chance, our ga-zillionth chance.

If you are struggling in accepting God's grace today, then please let this be a reminder of the true meaning of grace, LOVE. Let us all be awakened in our souls of how much we are loved and looked after. Let us accept this grace and go forward with our lives and our hearts seeking after God and all his desires!

Have a great day!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford