IMPRESSING FOLKS

I use the term "folks", because I am from the South and down here, we refer to people as "folks". True Southerners for the most part, are pretty warm and friendly folk. It's not a matter of putting on airs or trying to impress folks, but just simply, how they were raised and their choice, in how they like to treat folks. However, we are not so far removed from the grievous act of having two faces; as the most prestigious Hamlet sighted to Ophelia, when he told her, "God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another", that we cannot relate to what he accusing her of doing. We all like to "put on the hog", so to speak every now and then. We do so, because it is in our nature to do so. Whether you are from the south or not, something in you will at times impress you, to impress someone else.  The beloved Adrian Rogers, tells a story about a young man that had just started his new law office and had just finished hanging his new sign on the door, when he heard someone coming down the hallway and thought to himself, "ah ha, here comes a possible new client that I can impress", so he picked up his phone and began talking as if someone was on the other end, he said, "yes…no, I am sorry I cannot see you tomorrow, I have a heavy cooperation case I am working on, perhaps I can see you next week, if you will talk to my appointment secretary, I may be able to help you" and hung up the phone. By this time the man coming down the hallway is standing in his office…"Now Sir, what may I do for you?", and the man replied, "I'm from the telephone company and I'm here to hook up your telephone". The struggle with impressing people comes from a deep and long desire in both our spiritual and fleshly natures as Christians. We are hard wired in our flesh to gratify our fleshly desires and once we are born again and receive our new spiritual nature, they wrestle within us to gain power. Gal. 5:17 even tells us that, "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." Paul said this about his own struggle, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature….For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do…this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." Romans 17:15-20  For myself, I understand these verses very well. Because I too struggle with wanting always, to do the Father's will with the right heart attitude and motives and yet, I wrestle at every turn over how I will handle them. In the end, the way that I handle sin in my own life is to rebuke myself and confess it when I give in and act upon it, being quick and willing to have a change of heart by checking my heart motives to see if my flesh is seeking glory or to have its way, always praying God's will in every situation. There is a vast difference in seeking glory for yourself in the things that you do, verses allowing others to see your good works and glorify the Father in them as Matt 5:16 tells us to do. No one is above their fleshly desires and we all struggle in them. The thing that we must keep ever before us, is that we are making effort in our lives to relinquish any act that glorifies the sinful nature in us. Let God judge your heart and do not worry about what others think your heart and motives are. Chances are they have enough struggles over sin in their own hearts to keep them busy. Keep seeking to do right no matter what. Let us not live to impress others apart from Matthew 5:16 and not worry about what others think our motives are in our service or walk with Christ. Because our dreaded enemy would love nothing more than for us to shut down and cease to make a difference in the lives of those that God brings our way. Paul also said that he became all things that he may win folks to the Lord. Do not give in today sweet friend, but rise up and encourage yourself to stay in the spiritual fight until the day of His coming!

Hold Fast,

Bren

PARENTING TEENAGERS

Like myself, you too may find that people will praise you as a parent for the great job you are doing with your kids when they are younger and in the next phase of their life, those same folks are scratching their heads wondering where you went wrong by some behavior that they may witness, as one, both or all of your children "wings their way" through the teen years. Yet, no one is harder on us as parents, then we are ourselves. All of us including yourself have been right where your teenager is right now. While no one can really prepare for parenting teenagers, we can at least make the effort to understand them, for their sake as well as our own peace of mind. Your teen has no more idea of what is happening in them than you do in trying to understand that one morning they woke up, came down stars and they have been different ever since. Teen years are tough years, with raging hormones, tears, school, peer pressure, expectations and lots of confusion. They are no longer a child but not yet an adult either. They  want their independence, but they are not ready for all the responsibilities of an adult. The truth is being a teen is hard and everyone experiences that struggle for independence, but for some, that struggle is harder than it is for others. Some struggle longer than others and the parents are left to wonder if they will ever get to the other side. I want to encourage those of you today, parents who are in the deepest trenches, absolutely battling for their children’s loyalty, love, health and even their lives. Please know that you are not alone.  Hear that! Parenting troubled teens often involves silent suffering, which can trick you into thinking you are isolated and no one understands because they are not reaching out to you. An easy target for judgment or shame, so many families in crisis struggle alone, afraid or embarrassed or just too exhausted to reach out to others. Maybe they don’t want others to know about the shame and pain that they have been through, while you stand out like a rock about to roll off a cliff with yours. You question everything you ever did or didn’t do, simply trying to find a reason why your child is acting the way that they are. You ask yourself, "What did you do wrong? What didn’t you do right? What could you have done differently?" while the truth is for the most part, teenagers are whole human beings and they get to choose their steps. Families in crisis don’t need a jury of their peers; they need a community, family, a church of support, but many times they do not get it. A parent can virtually do everything they know to do right and their child can still rebel. While much of teen rebellion is part of a child's natural bend or order, there are certain circumstances that demand parents to take a hard course of action. If your teen is struggling outside the parameters of ordinary disobedience, you may want to reach out for help. Get the proper counseling before it gets too far out of hand.

Hold Fast,

-Bren

HOPE FOR THE TROUBLED PARENT

We are not born knowing how to raise children. It is a lifelong effort that is learned as we go about it. There are no parenting formulas that ensures any child’s path where they will not make wrong choices and reap strong consequences, especially during those hard teen years. While no one can really prepare for parenting teenagers, parents can at least make the effort to understand them as teenagers begin separating themselves from parental authority and gravitating towards their peer groups and personal beliefs and guidelines for their lives. This process is normal, natural and even necessary to some degree. Fight it and believe me, you'll lose. The key is learning how to dodge the small hurdles and focus on winning the big ones through love, forgiveness and lots of prayer. The solution is to make every effort that you can to operate within the guidelines of wisdom and patience, as well as you possibly can; maintaining a moral and godly influence in their life. Ephesians 6:4 instructs the following, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." and Colossians 3:21 says this, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged". It will benefit you by understanding there will be a difference in what's yours to control and what isn't. The quicker you learn this, the better you will be able to deal with it. Not all children will struggle as hard as others. Some will venture off on their own unwise course, to learn later at some point, that they made those wrong turns as they feel the painful reaping from the dreaded consequences of those choices. Yet sadly, some of them will continue down a spiral path of one wrong choice after another, never changing, never turning. Some will wonder off path, but will find their way back by making better choices. These teens will have learned great life lessons and will become stronger from them. Though troubled, they are our teens and are beloved to us! They come from good families, they were rocked and sang to as babies and read to and cheered for, as they did good. While things may look gloomy for a time during these years, there is always hope! You just must never lose it! In looking back on my own life as a teenager, what looked like rebellion was actually a natural "itch" for greater independence from my mother. While I loved her, I wanted to be free from her authority over me to do the things that I wanted to do and the way, that I wanted to do them; and the more she told me that she understood me, but would not support my unwise choices, the more frustrated and angrier I became with her. For, I thought if she really understood like she told me she did, she would support the choices I wanted to make. Sound familiar? Not every child will grow up to rebel and be strong minded and hell-bent on doing things their way. But all children will challenge you at times. My own children were ordinary kids, just like I was and acted totally cray-cray at times. Believe me, I did not skip through their teen years with nary a rebellion, academic catastrophe, lack of self-esteem issue or moody depression. I will not name names to protect the guilty, but I had typical run-of-the-mill teens that delighted and frustrated my husband and me, and to this day would gladly lay down my life for either of theirs. That is just normal. Life is not perfect and nor are our children perfect. These devotions are not meant to give you some kind of self-help steps in rearing teenagers. What they are meant for is, to send out a word of encouragement to those parents who are on the trenches of the battlefield right now, dealing with heart break over a child that you love. To be a lighthouse of hope no matter how long they have been where they are or how long it may take them to get back. If you are reading this, please know that you and your precious ones are being praying for.

Hold Fast,

-Bren

WEARY FROM BATTLE

If you’re walking through a time of battle, fear and anxiety right now my friend, you may scan the whole Bible searching to find relevant words to encourage yourself as I often do, and if you are familiar with many of the verses and teachings of Jesus, you will find that they will somehow seem to rise to the forefront at just the right time and be exactly what you need to hear at just the right moments. It’s good to find a word from God when we need it. But God usually prepares us with his Word before we even know we need it. Jesus told his disciples ahead of time that he was going to be crucified. He told  them ahead of time that they would experience persecution. He told them in John 16:4 that when their hour comes that they may remember the things he had told them. What a blessing to have had our conscience shaped by the stories and experiences of men and women of the Bible.  Like Peter’s restoration, years before we would wonder ourselves, after we had failed the Lord through an act of our own sin, that Jesus would receive us back. What a blessing to know how to embrace and personalize the story of Elijah, experience years before we would experience our own fears and lack of faith as we are left alone to wonder with doubts and feelings that we too have been abandoned. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, his response was not something he quickly came up with, but with the verbal Word of God that was in Him. When Jesus responded to the temptation to turn stones into bread by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” he was doing more than finding an applicable truth to counter an error. He recognized that he was standing where Israel had stood before him, in the wilderness, tempted to question God’s fidelity to his people. It was not doubt, that tempted Jesus, but satan.

 

satan knows how powerful the Word of God is. God's word is the only weapon that can defeat him and he is very aware of that truth. That is why he is forever trying to change, misuse or have us question what God has said. He even used it as he was tempting Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4:9 when he said to Jesus,  “If You are the Son of God, he said, “throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You carefully;". He did the same thing when he caused Eve to question what God has said in Gen. 3:4 "You will not surely die", the serpent said to the woman" by responding to her statement in Gen. 3:3 "but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." I believe that satan uses his questioning God's word tactic against us more than any other. I'm not sure, for I have not counted them, but of all the times in the scriptures that I can think about where satan was speaking, he is in some way questioning what God says or will do or questioning us before the Father as he did Job and even Jesus.

 

While it is not the easiest effort that you will ever make, for satan will come against you in every way that he can to keep you from reading, studding and trusting the word of God, it is the only weapon that God has forged for you to use in striking back against the enemy. That was the weapon that Jesus used when he engaged satan in the wilderness. Even the archangel Michael, in his dispute with satan over the body of Moses, rebuked him in the name of the Lord. Jude 9 is the supreme illustration of how Christians are to deal with satan and demons. The example of Michael refusing to pronounce a curse upon satan should be a lesson to Christians in how to relate to all unseen demonic forces. Believers are not to address them, but rather to seek the Lord’s intervening power against them. If as powerful a being as Michael is, deferred to the Lord in dealing with Satan, who are we to attempt to reproach, cast out, or command demons? Ephesians 6:10-18 describes the entire armor that God has provided HIs children to use as we battle spiritual warfare. But to know how to use this armor you must know what it is, how to recognize it and how to use it. Otherwise it will be of no use to you. Battling over something can wear you out and leave you weary, learn the facts about spiritual warfare and be ready the next time you encounter the enemy.

 

Hold Fast,
-Bren

ARMED FOR BATTLE

War is on the horizon. Actually, this war, is a spiritual war that has been raging for a long time now and is only intensifying. The Bible often illustrates the Christian life as a battle, waring against sin and satan according to Ephesians 6:12; "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." The children of God are soldiers of Christ according to 2 Timothy 2:3, in a spiritual warfare that requires them to use weapons that are not crafted by the world, according to 2 Cor.10:3-4, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.". That’s why the apostle Paul encourages Christians in Ephesians 6 to, “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.". Every day, all day long we face a spiritual war and an enemy that is real. His evil plans desire nothing more than to bring defeat to the child of God, as well as all the pain that he can dispose on God's creation. His goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. The forces of darkness that Eph. 6 talks about does not wait for us to be ready for their attack. They're ruthless, determined, and cunning. The devil could care less if we feel or assume that we are prepared or prayed up each day. In fact, he prefers that we get caught off our guard and unaware of his presence. That way, we are actually not fully ready for his attacks. God gives specific instructions in his Word. He gives us all we need to stand strong in this life. Yet all too often, we race through busy, ill-equipped, unprepared, and simply not aware of what we’re up against, or who the real enemy actually is. God has a plan for your life and mine. The enemy has a plan for us too. We just have to decide who we’re going to listen to, and who we're going to choose to follow each day. If you're a believer, living like salt and light in this dark world, you won't go for long without encountering obstacles and attacks that the enemy will hurl straight in your direction. This battle is real my friend, it’s intense and it is not going away, until the perfect plan of God has been fulfilled. C. S. Lewis warned years ago, that believers usually fall into one of two camps when dealing with the demonic: we deny their existence, or we get fascinated with them. Either way, we can miss the Bible’s basic teachings about this conflict. Ephesians 2:1-3 reminds us of the 3 enemies that we face: the world, our flesh and the devil. In some cases, the three are so interwoven that it’s difficult to tell them apart. However, we can be assured of some very important facts. God reigns over our enemy. The enemy we face is a defeated foe because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Warfare is the devil's attempt to deceive and divide God's people and encourage them to operate within their own abilities, apart from God's power as overcomers. Every disruption that he can cause in our life only takes away the freedom that we have, if we do not resist and give way to them and fall prey to satan's snares. Never forget, that the battle you may be facing today, may be more about what is unseen than what you can see with fleshly eyes. And when you resist the enemy, God's word tells us in James 4:7, that he has to flee. For the weapons that God has given you to be armed with, for the battles that you will face, are not made with fleshly hands of this world, but are found within the pages of the Word of God.

Hold Fast,

-Bren

THE NEVER CHANGING WORD OF GOD

There will be times that many of us will encounter other people at work, in college, at school or at play who will make it their mission in life to demonstrate or try and discredit the Bible. They will do their best to put forth some sort of opinion on how the Bible is only a book of fairy tales or simply good stories. Some will even go as far as to picking out what they like and want to believe of it and leave the rest as possible myths and history. Have you ever encountered one of these? Are you ready for such encounters if you should? I Peter 3:15 instructs the child of God to be ready at all times to defend their faith and the hope that is in them, in gentleness and reverence. Those things are the core of every believer and they are what provides them with the authenticity and validation of their faith to others. We will all leave a legacy of our life and what we accomplished and how we impacted others by our choices and the way we lived. Those people around us every day are eyewitnesses of our faith and what motivated us to live the life we did and be the person we were. When thinking about these things I am reminded about I Peter 3:15-16, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” It is not the believer’s responsibility to prove someone wrong that may disagree with them, but solely to claim that which they know for themselves to be truth and leave it up to the Spirit of God to convict, reveal and draw people to Himself as He wins over their hearts. This safeguards the witnessing believer and takes the pressure off of them to be right or win the disagreement. It’s never about winning the battle, but it is always about winning the soul. Sometimes the greatest statement that we can make to others is how we endure the ridicule or slander that we may be subjected to. If you recall, Jesus Himself never retaliated. So sometimes, it is our very suffering that becomes our greatest witness to others. And when the time comes that I leave this world, the legacy I hope to leave behind me, will be that of love, compassion and that I had done what I could do to reach others with what I personally found to be the answer for the hope that I believed in, embraced and entrusted. The Word of God never changes and It will never return void. It will always, always accomplish its goals and Mission.

Hold Fast,                                                                                                                                                           -Bren