O przebaczeniu/ On forgiveness

I know you're used to reading my notes in English but I've decided to write this one also in Polish so my friends back home could understand the message with no issues :) I will first write in Polish. Your version will be next :D 

okie dokie? okie dokie. 

Wtedy podszedł Piotr i zapytał: Panie, ile razy mam wybaczać mojemu bratu, jeśli zgrzeszy przeciwko mnie? Czy aż do siedmiu razy?

Jezus odpowiedział: Mówię ci, nie aż do siedmiu razy, lecz do siedemdziesięciu razy siedem.

Dlatego Królestwo Niebios przypomina pewnego króla, który postanowił uporządkować rachunki z poddanymi. W trakcie tych porządków przyprowadzono mu jednego dłużnika winnego sześćdziesiąt milionów denarów. A ponieważ nie miał z czego oddać, król polecił go sprzedać — wraz z żoną, dziećmi oraz całym dobytkiem — i w ten sposób odzyskać pożyczkę.

Zadłużony sługa padł jednak na kolana i zaczął prosić: Okaż mi cierpliwość. Oddam ci wszystko. I pan zlitował się nad nim. Uwolnił go, a dług umorzył.

Ułaskawiony dłużnik wyszedł i wtedy spotkał kolegę — sługę, podobnie jak on sam — który był mu winien sto denarów. Doskoczył do niego, chwycił za gardło i syknął: Oddaj, coś winien. Kolega zaś padł na kolana i zaczął prosić: Okaż mi cierpliwość. Oddam ci wszystko. Lecz ułaskawiony dłużnik nie przystał na to. Przeciwnie, doprowadził do uwięzienia kolegi na czas spłaty długu.

Gdy inni poddani dowiedzieli się o tym, co zaszło, zrobiło im się przykro. Poszli też i o wszystkim, co się stało, dokładnie opowiedzieli panu. Wtedy król wezwał sługę do siebie i zarzucił mu: Ty niegodziwcze! Umorzyłem ci cały dług, dlatego że mnie prosiłeś. Czy i ty nie powinieneś zlitować się nad swoim kolegą, tak jak ja zlitowałem się nad tobą? I rozgniewany, wydał go dozorcom więziennym, by zajęli się nim, dopóki wszystkiego nie spłaci.

Podobnie mój Ojciec w niebie uczyni z wami, jeśli któryś z was z całego serca nie wybaczy swemu bratu.

Ten fragment nie jest latwy ani do zrozumienia, ani (tym bardziej) do przelozenia w praktyke. 

Sluga powiedzial do krola: 

'okaz mi cierpliwosc, a oddam Ci wszystko'.

Chwile pozniej Krol powiedzial do slugi

'Czy i ty nie powinieneś zlitować się nad swoim kolegą, tak jak ja zlitowałem się nad tobą?'

Zyjemy w grzechu. Nie jestesmy w chwale Bozej. W drodze naszego zycia ciagle popelniamy bledy, podejmujemy zle decyzje, gorszymy innych itd. 

Nasz dlug na Sad Ostateczny wzrasta w zastrajaszacym tempie. Gdy przychodzimy do Pana i prosimy o przebaczenie, On wymazuje cala pamiec o naszych grzechach. Nie poszczegolne; On nie wybiera 'gorszych' do zatrzymania. On czysci nasze karty. On wybacza wszystko. Nigdy nie wypomina nam wpadek.

 Po proszeniu o nie, i otrzymaniu przebaczenia, wychodzimy z naszego pokoju i zderzamy sie z rzeczywistoscia innych ludzi. Niektorzy z nich sa nam winni przeprosiny. Sa tacy, z ktorymi mozemy sie posprzeczac, ale sa inni, ktorzy mogli nas naprawde, gleboko zranic. Czy jest nam latwo, albo inaczej- czy jestesmy w stanie zrobic to, co Bog wlasnie dla nas zrobil? Wyczyscic karty tych, ktorzy spowodowali bol i cierpienie? 

Rzeczywistosc jest taka: Ty wybaczasz komus jedna albo kilka rzeczy, ktore Ci zrobili. Bog wlasnie wybaczyl Ci wszystkie zle rzeczy ktore zrobiles w ciagu calego swojego zycia. Jesli Tobie zostalo tyle wybaczone, to o ile bardziej powinienes wybaczyc innym? 

W koncowce tego podobienstwa Jezus powiedzial ze kto nie wybaczy swojemu blizniemu temu Bog uczyni tak jak sludze ktory nie darowal koledze. 

Prawda jest taka, ze my nie zaslugujemy przebaczenia, ale gdy prosimy, Bog sie nad nami lituje. 

Wiec jesli On robi to dla nas i daje nam szanse zaczac od nowa, to... czy my nie powinnismy zrobic tego samego dla ludzi ktorzy nas zranili? 

'Przebaczenie to wypuszczenie wieznia na wolnosc i odkrycie, ze sam byles tym wiezniem'.

Trzymanie urazy nie rani osoby ktora zrobila Ci cos zlego. Ta osoba zyje dalej, ba, pewnie juz zapomniala ze cos sie miedzy Wami stalo. Trzymanie urazy rani tylko Ciebie. 

Pusc.

Aby Bog mogl Tobie wybaczyc.

***

Matthew 18:21-35:

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

We live in sin. We are not in the glory of God. In our life we constantly make mistakes, make wrong decisions, we deprave people. 

Our debt for the Final Judgment is growing faster than we know. But when we come to the Lord and when we ask for forgiveness, He clears the whole record of our sins. Not certain sins. He doesn't choose 'worse' ones to save up. He clears our acts. He forgives everything and promises to never remind us of things we've done wrong. 

After we ask and receive forgiveness we leave our room and meet with the reality of different people. Some of those people we only argue with, but there are others... Those, who owe us an apology. They have hurt us deeply. 

Is it easy, or, in other words- are we able to do what God just did for us?

Clear the record of those, who caused us pain? 

Here is the reality: you forgive someone one or a few things they've done to you. God has just forgiven you everything that you have done wrong in your lifetime. If you have been forgiven so much, then should you not forgive others? 

'To forgive is to let the prisoner free and realize that the prisoner was you'.

Holding grudge doesn't hurt the person who's done you wrong. That person has moved on, or even has forgotten about the whole thing. Grudge hurts only you. 

Let go.

So God could forgive you.

permanent love

Hear this and take it to your heart:
God doesn't love you because you can do good things or you can be selfless or even go to church.
If you're a Christian, He doesn't love you because you serve Him.
He loves you because He has made you.
He doesn't love you temporarily when you do a good deed.

He loves you PERMANENTLY and nothing, and I mean, NOTHING can separate you from this love.

This includes your sins.
Yes, they will separate you from relationship with Him, but no, they won't make Him love you any less.

Come to Him as you are, stop hiding cause He knows things better than you do.

Stop fooling around.

Stop wasting your time.

Stop the guilt trips.

Let Him love you.

You don't have to fix yourself before you can come to Him
because He came to help you overcome things.

Jesus came to heal the sick, not to party with Pharisees.

Jesus came to hang out with poor and prostitutes, not to stone them to death.

Jesus came to love, not to condemn.

You HAVE the promise of blessing and peace and joy and love, if you come to Him.

The life you have right now, no matter where you're at, won't bring you the satisfaction you're looking for, until you let God sit on the throne. Be your number 1. Be your GOD.

Money could satisfy your earthly desires, but only mercy can feed your heart.

Ask me why I have chosen God.
Ask me about my testimony.



How He loves you!!

***

Those two words:
serve Jesus
serve Jesus
serve Jesus
serve Jesus...
are stuck in my head.
serve Jesus.
Is there anything better than that?
Is there, really?

They awake a new portion of passion in me
Passion that can't be explained in words,
It can only be expressed in deeds.

Passion to serve Him
to build His Kingdom
To awake sleepers
To reach out to the Poor
To hug the Orphan
To help the Widow
To hear the Teen.
To feed the Hungry.

Passion.
Fire.
Pure Love
Coming from one source only:
Relationship with Jesus.

Mustard Seed

Hi all! Hope you are doing good wherever you are at :)


Lately I have been studying the gospel of Matthew and I have a few things I'd like to share with you in coming days. Let's start with a little something about the Parable of the Mustard Seed, from Matthew 13:31-32 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
 Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It's so tiny it could get lost in your hand, yet when planted, it has the potential of growing into a huge tree.
Why did Jesus compare this seed to our faith? What's the similarity between those two:


-both start of looking tiny, almost meaningless. Looking at them at first we could think that getting any fruit out of them would be impossible. 


-Have you ever been or are you this kind of person who feels unsure about stepping out of their comfort zone? If so, then Welcome to the club, you are now officially a Human being! 
If that mustard seed had its voice, I bet it wouldn't ever dream of becoming a tree. Imagine it looking at the field and thinking 'those trees are so awesome and strong, I bet their seed was huge and they were just made to be trees!'
But what if that mustard seed missed one thing out of that picture? The fact that those trees where actually coming from tiny mustard seeds? 


We often get discouraged instead of encouraged when we see people 'high up'. They seem to be so good at what they are doing that it seems like they were born in that position. 
Do you ever find yourself moaning or criticizing yourself, comparing yourself to people who have gone way further than you? 
I want to tell you something. 
Those people started off from exactly the same spot where you have done- in the beginning.
Ask anyone and they will tell you the story of hardships, sacrifices, issues and all other problems they had to overcome to get to this place.
Ask them if they would have been at that place if they refused to learn. Ask them how did they come to the knowledge they have right now. 
Ask them if it was easy.
Ask them if it was worth it.




Too often we forget that every single of us is in journey through their life. 


When Jesus was saying this parable he focused on the matter of faith.


Faith is a mustard seed that is in every human being. 


Have you got a saving account?
How do you save?
By putting money into account, right? You can keep on adding the money, you can freeze the money for certain period of time, you can do many things with it. But the point of it is the profit this kind of account can bring you.


Now look at your heart and judge your own state of faith. 
Faith is like this bank account.
It growths when invested into.
God has already given you all the faith you need- you 'wake it up' by doing things that are out of expectations, praying and taking risks. 


You may look at people like Joyce Mayer and think that you could never be like her. Well, do you know her testimony? Check it out. 
Joyce is inspiring me a lot, because she took step of faith and decided to trust God- not herself. This enabled her faith to grow. She started of just like you and me- as an innocent mustard seed. But once planted and watered by prayer- it grew into this tree of which fruit you see everywhere you go.


God wants that for you. No, I don't mean that you're suppose to become the second Joyce Meyer. I mean that you're suppose to become the first **** **** (insert your name here). 
You can never grow comparing yourself to others, but you can live getting inspired by people who took a step of faith. 


So my point in here is to encourage you to take courage and plant your mustard seed. It cannot grow without the soil and water. 
Pray, do whatever God tells you to do, get involved in your church, share Jesus with people who don't know Him yet.


Be brave. Push through hardships, because in the end, when you remain faithful to the Lord, you're going to have a beautiful view from the tree.

For Girls

Concluding past 8 months...
When hardships were coming, one after another, with little or no breaks in between.

***

I'm sorry, I can't take your pain away

I can only love

I can't understand everything

I can only love

I can't always reach you

I can only love

I can't find right words

I can only love

And when everything else is gone, when it seems like dissapearing is the only option,

know,

I am still there

I still love.

I love you.

***

I want each and one of you to know that I love you beyond understanding.

Xhoi: you have gone through ups and downs, you have battled through seeing your friends go and you have whistand through all of that. I couldn't be more proud of you. Seeing you grow, seeing you change brings tears of joy to my eyes. I love you so much!!!

Shereen: our only second year. There has been so much expectation and responsibility put on your plate this year. You have gone through this with your head up, whether you were encouraged or discouraged, whether you felt like getting out of bed in the morning or not. You loved on people and most of all: you have loved on your Master, staying obedient to His commandments. I am so, so proud of you. I love you!!

Sylwia: girl... you have changed so much that I don't know where to start. You read as much as you can, you listen, you learn. You want to change. You long to know God better and to become greater. You make me proud. I see you struggling when you're asked to do something you've not done before but you still go and do it. You've battled through loss of people you loved and so many different problems. I've seen you at your best and at your worst. I've seen you learn your lessons and because of that, today you are a different person. I love you!!!

Briki: You bring me such joy. Briki, your love for God has been encouragement to me in the worst times. Your desire to grow and know His Word is inspiring. You never complain, you never stand against your leaders. Having you here is a privilege! You're growing into a mighty woman of God. I love you!!


Girls, you are all amazing.

I live

I live building bridges and getting over things.
I live inspired and with passion.
I live running on empty.
I live...
No matter what.
Whether it's ok or not, I still breathe.
I still go to bed hoping that morning would bring me joy.
I praise my Jesus, my God.
I give him thanks for everything that's happened and all that is to come.
I'm at peace knowing that I don't have to know everything, cause he's in control.
I let joy live in me and through me, because I trust Him.
Because my hope is safe with Him.


I live because of Him.

Special Treatment

You read that topic and you know what I'm about to say, right?
Anger. Times, when everything just gets on your nerves and all you can see is how unappreciative people are. You need some credit for all you do. You expect someone to come and give you a standing ovation for your awesomeness. I do that, even tho I don't work for my own glory. I have times when I don't want to be patient because getting angry is sooo much easier!! Giving someone grace requires so much strength that I often feel run over by the time my day at work is over. Is this what we are about? Is that all? Really? 
We do want good, otherwise we wouldn't be where we are right now. We try our best according to the circumstances we find ourselves in at the time. I find myself praying for grace. Not over me, but over people around me. I catch myself asking God to guard the words that are about to come out of my mouth. I ask for them without checking my heart. When is the time when I give Him my emotions, anger and sadness? Do you have the same problem as I? Forgetting to take care of your spirit before you face problems outside of your life? I see again that leaving your home drained is like going for a war butt naked expecting yourself to not get killed. 
Getting caught up in work, constantly thinking of ways to help others but not taking enough care of our own growth can lead us to run on empty. And we can't give what we don't have.. can we? I find myself doing that and then, mistake made over and over again (when will I learn?), I expect credit and special treatment instead of going to God to renew my spirit. 
Anger comes when patience is no more. Good job God is bigger than that! :)


This week, try to not let your emotions go in front of your thinking. 
This week pray more to God to renew your spirit, patience and grace for others. 
Spend some time meditating the Word, reading a good book or just sharing your heart and feelings with Jesus.


Remember: praying for yourself isn't being selfish, because taking care of yourself means you're able to take care of others. 


So... take care :)