DEPRESSION'S FAULT

Depression may not always be your fault. Sometimes depression is brought on through a wrongful deed or un-repented act. But not all depression is the result of some wrong decision that was made. If you have rightful cause in your life, for something that you have done, that brings you depression, allow your remorse to lead you to confession, and understand that when you bring your mistake or sin to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, then you have only to forget it and move on! While there is a lot of wisdom in the latter part of that statement, forget it and move on, sometimes that is much easier said than done, huh? Often times depression will continue because there may be a root of the cause of depression that can be held on to and when we do not cut or sever that cord, we stay connected to the root, which will always cause its tentacles to grow back reaching up and keeping the process of being depressed an ongoing event in our lives. Depression can come upon us when we least expect it. It can be devastating to not only the one experiencing the depression but to our families and loved ones as well. I know this because I have not only counseled women, who have gone through cycles of depression,  but I myself, have lived through the horrors of depression.

Knowing why and how we become depressed will help us to realize what it will take to get through and over it. Many times, we can find ourselves slap dab in the middle of depression wondering how we got there. When that happens, getting another perspective can be very helpful. There is no shame in needing someone to walk through our depression with us and giving us godly advice. We can often times feel tremendous guilt over feeling or being depressed. We feel that we have let down both God and our family because we may not seem to be able to get a good grip on our depression. The secrecy of being depressed  can even become a priority, because we do not want other people to know that we seem to have lost our joy or control over our emotions, especially if we are a Christian. But at some point, it’s time to end the guilt feelings and deal with the depression.

Jesus never condemned a sad person, rather, he identified with grief and sadness as when he wept over Lazarus. There are some very common causes of depression  that are not tied to sin or wrong doing in our lives and it is best to determine this before a person beats themselves up spiritually. Some people can experience brain chemistry that is out of balance. Their Endocrine system being  out of balance can trigger depression. Postpartum chemistry can turn up to overwhelm women years after they have had a baby and cause them to go into overload emotionally. An undiagnosed condition can exists such as fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, low thyroid, chronic fatigue syndrome or a host of other conditions. Some people experience types of trauma, bad news, death in the family, divorce, an unpleasant event, abuse, or other life difficulties. Some people have a Genetic disposition. People with ADD or ADHD experience bouts of depressions. Unrecognized problem of bitterness, anger, hate, jealousy, condemnation and other serious sins of commission or of omission can blight the healthiest, most balanced of people.

If today you are experiencing depression and feel the need to get help, do! Maybe a visit with a wise pastor that you may know or someone you trust, can suggest a counselor that can help you determine if your depression is spiritual, environmental or physical depression. Once you have learned the reason for your depression and the recommended treatment, you must act upon it in order to get on the road to recovering or simply managing your mood swings. If you do need to be put on medication, accept the responsibility of taking it and do not stop suddenly when you start feeling better. But don’t be so quick to accept medication until you have searched with all your heart and believe that medicine is your answer. Be careful to listen to God, as He responds to your cries for help and remember that prayer is an excellent way to receive wisdom from God for the direction you need to take and for healing in your condition, whether or not it is temporary, short term or long term. Add to your prayer singing, scripture memorization and exercise. I know from experience that those combinations releases the body’s chemicals that help us to feel better.

You are very precious to God. He wants you to know that you are cherished and desires that you feel better and whole, because that is the way that you were designed to be. In Christ, you do not have to be bound by your condition, freedom calls for you in the name of the Lord, listen carefully. "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9. Don’t you dare give in or give up! This is what King David said when he experienced sadness and depression in

Psalms 30, “O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol (grave, pit, a place of darkness) you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” It will come, this too will pass, so dig in to His promises and hang on til you get to the other side sweet friend!

Loving on you today,

Bren

DEPENDENCE ON GOD

I just finished the last chapter in the book of Nehemiah. As I read about his recounting his time as governor of Canaan when the Israelites were returning from their bondage in Babylon, I was reminded just how much the people of his day are like the people of my own. While the time and culture was somewhat different, the people never the less, are the same. Nehemiah struggled in the face of overwhelming challenges, with the same issue that we face today. He had to deal with not only his own personal motivation for himself, but he had the challenge of motivating God’s people to return to the Lord as well and in doing so, he faced criticism, doubt, distraction and fatigue. In the middle of all his challenges he had discovered a great weapon and learned to use it on a regularly basis. His weapon was prayer!

 

Many of the Bibles most moving prayers are found in this great book. In them, Nehemiah expresses his dependence on God and a trust worthy for us to follow. As he trusted God in his situation he was able to assess his circumstances and the circumstances of God’s people and expedite them getting them once again working together rebuilding the walls of their beloved Jerusalem. He also reestablished worship and reminded them of their past greatness and obedience and the desperate need for repentance.

 

As difficulty and opposition developed, Nehemiah encouraged the discouraged and when some strayed into sin, Nehemiah confronted the problem, rebuked the sin and called them back to God. Today, we not only are called to minister to a broken world, but we have the great task of ministering to a broken church that has gone astray in many ways. Until Christ returns for His beloved bride, believes will continue to be attacked and their lifestyles be compromised as they allow sin to run rapid in their life. Until Jesus comes back, there will always be a need for a prophet to call God’s people back from the distractions that satan will most assuredly put in their way, just as he did Nehemiah, in his day.

 

God’s people must learn to say no to those distractions as Nehemiah did in Nehemiah 6:3 when he said, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down”…in response to his enemies distraction. He was tempted yes, but he realized that there was another force at work trying to cause distraction upon every turn. Still, he did not allow them to cause him to veer off his beaten path. For Nehemiah, his distractions came from within and without begging his attention elsewhere. Yet, he stayed the course and through his obedience and much prayer, God was faithful and gave him favor when needed and wisdom and understanding in dealing with the Israelites as God, through Nehemiah, called them back into a right relationship with their God.

 

Prayer not only allows us communication with God and is an essential element in our worship, but through faith, it is the power source for the Christian to live victoriously. Psalms.145:18 says, “the Lord is near to all those who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.”

Loving on you today,

Bren

Speaking To Teens & Young Adults - If You Will Listen

 

If you will listen to me, I have something very important to say to you, that will spare you a lot of heart ache! That is every parents dream, that their teenager or young adult child would take their advice before making a choice that will end in heart ache that often times brings pain both to their child and themselves. With so many pressures to fit in and do what society says is normal, it can be easy for a young person to think that while their parents may mean well they are keeping their children from a lot of fun and experiences that they could be having. This can be hard to handle, even when they may believe that God exists, and want to live the way that God desires them to. However, because of the strings that are pulling them in different directions to be a “pop culture” zombie following mindlessly the superficial people that they are around daily, deep down inside they struggle just like you and me with what is right, what is wrong and what is accepted and not accepted and that what today’s society considers “normal” is not necessarily right with God nor is right for you and I.

But, still, the temptations are there and each person struggles with the decision to sow their own wild oats at some point in their life. Most people think that, that is part of what being a normal teenager is. However, that is wrong thinking! It does not have to be that way. In fact, it should not be. Consider a parable related by Jesus who, by the way, knew what it was like to be a teenager Himself. He told of a father who had two sons. One  of his sons sowed his wild oats by wanting to seek and experience all the extremes life had to offer, living his life abandon from his upbringing and far from his family and home. But when the fun came to an end, this prodigal son came to feel himself, abandon from those that he had sacrificed his future to party with and enjoy his sin for a season.  At one point he had reached such a lowly state that upon his getting the only work that he could find, in tending pigs, he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, if only he were allowed to do so. You see, the party was over for him, and his life was miserable according to Luke 15:11-32.

No matter how attractive the idea of, “experiencing real life” may seem for a while, those experiences bring permanent consequences in our lives. They are the unproductive, fruitless and barren crops, that spring up from what we have sown. The Bible puts it very simply: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” Galatians 6:7.  The reality is that there is no free pass when it comes to the cause and effect of sin that we have purposely sown in our lives. King Solomon had a great understanding of this truth and knew from his own experience with sin as he wrote, “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment” Ecclesiastes 11:9. Even in our youth, the actions we choose will affect us for the rest of our lives. Teens and young adult years alike, are filled with potentially life changing decisions, so even while we are young, we should be wise as serpents and gentle as a dove in how we respond to them according to Matthew 10:16.

A great example of this is when young people become involved in having sex or drinking alcohol which many may consider a normal rite of passage for them; they are taking a closer step toward injury or even death that would not have occurred if they had not opted to take that first drink or put themselves into a situation where they would be forced to decide whether to have sex or not. Motor vehicle crashes are often caused or worsened by alcohol consumption and are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States. But even if they forgo injury to themselves physically, they should consider the impact and witness that their misconduct or drinking will have on their friends, family and their own children as when the times comes for them to marry and establish their own families. Sexual encounters may seem to be harmless especially as it is plastered all over the television and magazines  as it is presented as every human’s right and is certainly common among today’s teens as well as unmarried adults. However, it does not make it right. Millions of cases of sexually transmitted diseases is contracted each year and is a direct result of unprotected sex between two people that did not give any thought to the repercussions of what they were doing. One report states that, nearly half of the 19 million new STDs each year are among young people aged 15–24 years. Other statistics point out that, each year, one in four U.S. teens contracts an STD or other sexually transmitted infection, and that by 2025 as many as 40 percent of all men and half of all women could be carrying one or more STDs. 

How did our culture come to this point? It happened because society now accepts intimate sexual contact between guys and girls no matter the age or the consequences that having sex may bring them. By removing standards that define appropriate contact and what is right and what is wrong no longer matters to many people. By winking at the sowing wild oats attitude, while it may appear or seem to be fun at the time, always brings some form of heartache and regret that can last a lifetime.  God’s Word may appear to be a book of rules and guidelines for some people and while they may overlook them and not care much for them, they will answer for them either in this life or the next.  The wisest of all men King Solomon wrote, “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck” Proverbs 1:8 -9.

As Solomon wrote, “Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right” Proverbs 20:11. Make sure that the seeds you sow are godly ones that will produce good crops of fruit in your life without regrets. Even if you have sown a few wild oats in your past, you can turn your life around at any point. It is never too late to start doing the right thing and remember that the devil means to use your wrong choices to destroy your happiness and bring you to ruin. But God can restore those wrong choices over time as you surrender your life to Him. Please listen sweet friend and accept wise council!

Loving on you today sweet friend,

Bren
 

A NUISANCE FOR CHRIST

In Mark 10 Christ spoke to His disciples about the difficulty of salvation for those who have an abundance or special attachments in this world. He told them that those who eagerly seek wealth and relationships in the world will never hold Christ and His grace as the great gifts that they are. He also mentions the greatness of those who have little in this world, but give it up to follow or obey whatever Christ may ask of them to do for His sake. One of the greatest trials of a person’s consistency and true test of their love for Jesus is when, their love for Christ calls them to give up any love they may have for their friends and relatives that rule supremely over their love for Christ. For our love for God and the work that He did on the cross must rule in our hearts over every other desire, lust, love, passion that we could possibly have on this earth. We are to expect to suffer in some ways and learn contentment in a low state, as we watch against the love of riches in a high one. Our prayers to the Father should be; to be enabled, to part with little or all, if required of us, in Christ's service, and to use all that we are allowed to keep in His service.

 

When we come to Christ we are oftentimes labeled by family, friends and acquaintances as being “Too Religious” or a “Jesus Freak", in a negative manner. I have often times been thought of like that myself and have learned to be grateful for it! This happens because the one calling the name has not surrendered their own heart as Christ speak to do in Mark 10. For once your eyes truly fall on the risen King, you will not be able to walk away untouched or unchanged in some way. I am truly disturbed that as Christians, we have fallen short in showing the world that living for Christ is worth more than the rarest, most deepest desire of the heart or anything this world affords. The people in our lives should see Christ in us and the major difference in who we are now, since accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, than the old person who we once use to be. His light in us should light up a room when we enter it and our life should invoke others to want to seek the Lord in truth and not simply as the son of the Man upstairs.

 

Many people who do not know Christ are critical and, like the Egyptians, their hearts are hardened and eyes are blinded by the enemy and will continue to be until Christ is revealed to them as they accept Him into their lives, allowing Him to change them as well. People often refuse to come to God on His terms, because of their personal attachments of unwillingness to give up or change some part of their lives; and yet they work diligently to get to Him on their own and by way of their own merit. They continue to use old stories of those who have fallen away from some Church or some hardship that God never responded to or a bad experience and continue to live apart from Him, thinking that they and God have their own thing going; so all is well. To those folk, the true child of God will always be a nuisance to them and will continue to be labeled as too religious, because of the deeper commitment that they personally cannot conceive or understand.

 

May you today be a nuisance to the world in that sense, troublesome to the enemies of the King of Kings and while your conduct always be courteous no matter what it may cost you, let your testimony for Christ be given without any flinching and without any mincing of the matter and may you continue living for Him as you are led by Him. People need the Lord, and they need you to be a light for them to see Him!

Loving on you,

Bren

WHAT TO DO?

We ask ourselves, should Christians drink? Is it okay to spank our children when needed? Should we provide them with private education, public schools or maybe homeschool them? Should we go to a church that tickles our ears by what we want to hear and supports our way of thinking or should we seek out a church that will challenge our own wisdom. As individuals we ponder the pros and cons of our decisions. We scratch our heads, read some books and look to whom we deem experts for definitive answers. We do this because it is much easier for us to let someone else do our thinking for us. Who is doing your thinking for you today? Who are listing to? Are you challenging what they are saying by weighing it against the Word of God?  

 

It is common place in our society to have the dependency of following and letting TV evangelist, the church house preacher, the latest author who has written a best seller, or a person that may have a degree after their name. While this is not all bad, it can be bad if we are being led astray by false teaching or some truth, mixed with lies.  The thinking and studying that discernment requires of us is hard work, even though God’s Word (for example in Philippians 1:9-11 and Job 34-:1-4) tells us that it is worth the effort to seek it out for ourselves. We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 to study to show ourselves approved, workmen that needeth not to be ashamed…. because we ourselves have made the effort to divide the Word of God by studying it and researching it for ourselves.

 

Ignorance creates fear and uncertainty, while truth liberates us with the assurance of what we should do or think; and the only way to achieve that is through personal seeking, studying and comparing it to the Word of God from a personal standpoint. Don’t follow after someone other than God, don’t let them manage your mind. Pray for God’s wisdom, but remember not only should you pray for wisdom from God, you must earnestly desire and seek truth, no matter of the personal cost that may be required of you.

 

Don’t give up and say God did not answer you because He did not answer you the way you wanted Him to. If God shuts a door, stop banging on it….like the saying goes! In faith, trust that whatever is or was behind your request, is not meant for you, and move on. So many times we put too much effort in trying to make our wills, God’s will for our lives and then when things do not turn out like we wanted, we blame God for it! It is so easy to praise God in the good times when things are going well. But the real test of your faith always comes in the dark clouds that form over you to shield you from the light of God’s truth about a thing. So, put your trust in God, not yourself, nor in others for the answers that you need and are seeking, but wholly in God alone! 

 

Loving on you today,

Bren