HOW'S YOUR HEARING?

There was a man who could not hear very well and was told by his doctor that he would have to buy a hearing aid, but he did not want to spend much money on it. So he went to the store and asked the clerk, "How much do hearing aids cost?" "Well" said the salesman, "it depends. They run from two dollars to two thousand .'' "Let me see the two dollar model," the man said. The clerk hung a string around the man's neck. "Just put this button in your ear," he said, "and stick this string in your pocket." "How does it work?" asked the customer. "It doesn't work. But when people see it on you, they'll speak louder."

Well, that may be one way to hear what someone is saying to you, but to hear from God, your ears must be spiritually in tune to His voice or you will miss it all together!

Job 33:14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.

SPIRITUAL MIDNIGHTS

There are times in our lives that we all face moments of fear from literal darkness, because we know that bad things do happen in the darkness. Yet, we also have times of spiritual darkness that just seem to creep in as clouds of despair, pain, personal issues and disrupt our peace and cause us to fear something that while we may not can see it, we know that something is wrong. Faith will always overcome fear when we apply it to the situation that we may find ourselves to be in. The scriptures tell us in Ps 139:12, that darkness, is as the day to God….it can’t hide from God and neither can anything that is in that darkness. David knew firsthand what it was like to fear the unknown and those things that were lurking in the hills and desserts of Judea. He like us, was forced to put his faith to the test, many times to either be consumed with fear over his spiritual midnights (or things that he could not control) or choose to have peace and trust God for whatever would be….would be, but he himself was going to follow the God He knew, loved and trusted!

I recall years ago, of a weekly television show that you may remember as well… called, “Blue Thunder”. It was a about a helicopter that could fly over buildings and homes seeing in the dark by detecting invisible, infrared radiation in human bodies and objects. This technology is very real today and enables man to see in the dark what they could not see before. In spiritual darkness, it is God’s light that probes that darkness and dispels it as He shows us the way out. But we must engage that light by turning on our faith to make it happen. John R. Mott was a godly layman who led a world movement for today’s Modern missions. In his early life, he had his doubts about prayer, he read over forty books concerning it and had many discussions about it. Yet it was only when he set aside all that; and began to pray… that he truly began to understand… that God’s power is released through prayer. He learned that, “the prayers of a righteous man is powerful and effective…it avails much!”  It was his practical faith that was the dividing line between his religion and actually experiencing God. It separates those that are simply “fans” of Christ from those that are true ”followers” of Christ.

On Sunday nights, we are going through an excellent video series at Church that helps us to distinguish between being a true Follower of Christ or simply a Fan of Christ. These videos are exceptional in bringing to light the fact that many people are simply fans of Christ but not true followers. The videos cut to the core and help you to define your relationship to Christ as being either an enthusiastic admirer, close enough to Him to get the benefits, but not so close that it requires you to sacrifice anything….or that through your willingness to do what He ask by picking up your cross and following Him, that you truly are a follower and not a just a fan; of the One who died for you. We will all be confronted with this question at different times in our loves. Those times may come during our spiritual midnights like they did in one of the characters in the video series; and when they do, it is then that our level of commitment will be revealed to us as to where our heart and devotion to Christ really lies.

We have no rights of our own apart from bearing a cross daily that keeps us humble and committed to a call on our lives. Do not be deceived in thinking that you do not have a call on your life if you are a true follower of Christ. Do not think that being a believer entitles you to anything other than knowing about Christ….because the scriptures give us many examples or checkpoints to test ourselves and see if we are in the faith or in the beloved. Not all that say, Lord, Lord, will enter heaven, but only those who do the Father’s will…according to Matthew 7:21. So may I encourage you today sweet friend, even challenge you, to pick up that old dusty Bible that you have in your home and begin to look at those checkpoints that are there, and you will find them if you are sincere in your looking for them….and discover for yourself, if you are truly a follower of Christ or simply one of His fans.

If you are going through a spiritual midnight today, allow the One who can shed His light and brighten your world and make your path clear to you…but it will be up to you to walk in it!

Loving you today,

Bren

LOSS & GRIEF

The horrific experience of loosing a spouse, sister, brother, parent or child is something that no one ever wants to face, yet at times, we all do. In the loss of a child, it is one of the most unnatural experiences that a parent would ever have to face and while every parent may fear it, more than likely most of us may never have to experience it. While I have no personal experience with loosing a child, I do know firsthand the pain of loss and that pain has often times driven me to a place where I could find and experience hope enough, to bear what I must and endure the shock and loss of something or someone that I loved deeply. A person that has recently experienced the loss of a loved one is simply needing and searching for hope. A hope that assures them that things are going to be okay and will get better than they are at the moment. A hope that promises them that at some point the pain will get better and they can begin to make some sense of what has happened.
Rebuilding their lives around their loss will be most challenging, but it is very possible. It will be a daily effort for a while as they learn to move on. No one ever really recovers from a loved one’s passing….they simply "move on", and learn to live in the new world that they now find themselves to be in. Finding resolution as they walk through their personal grief, they will be forced to learn to invest in other parts of life, task, relationships, trying to forge new meaning and understanding to their loss as well as their future without that precious loved one. While life may not feel normal for a while, there can be a “New Normal" for them in time; as they settle into that new world that they now are left with. Whether loosing a loved one by cancer or by an accident, there are some core issues and specific circumstances that have different emotional attachments that the bereaved are left to deal with. Turning to others for help and encouragement can help to aid in reaching a turning point away from the pain of the situation, to possibly see the good that can be drawn for it. Hearing other peoples stories of personal pain and loss can even allow a little bit of anonymity to say and ask questions that one may not be able to discuss with someone who has not walked in their shoes; and may not truly understand their hurt, pain, sadness and even anger. We should never deny ourselves time to grieve, God’s word encourages us to walk through our grief’s. Yet we must not allow ourselves to live in a state of grief. Letting go of grief in no way equates forgetting about that precious one that we may have lost; even though we may find it difficult to do so. Raw emotions can seem to last a lifetime... so grieve well, and one day those tears can be replaced by laughter and joy, as time heals and removes the rough edges of the pain. Every parent or person will have their own quest for solace over a loss. They may handle it different than what we would expect. But the fact that they are handling it and not filing it away is enough; because they are at least trying to walk through it.

There are different stages of grief and healing always takes time, so remember to take the time you need, discuss your feelings in whatever environment allows you to express them best....and always remember that the One that seeks to give you Comfort is never far away....
 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." II CORINTHIANS 1:3-4

Shock & Denial - At first, losing someone seems unreal. You can't believe it's happened. You play and re-play all of the events that led up to finding out over and over in your head. You will analyze every word said, every action performed, every detail no matter how small will be examined. You are looking for anything that will make sense. In those early moments, nothing will make sense and you begin to deny it happened and try to convince yourself it was just a dream. You will insist that this can't be happening to you. Not today, not now, you're not ready. You will tell yourself that you cannot handle this.
Pain & Guilt - Next the pain sets in. Your stomach hurts or it can feel hollow and numb. You ache inside and nothing soothes it. You begin to blame yourself for their loss. You wonder what you could have done, even should have done, to have prevented it. Without thinking about it, you try accept responsibility and insist that you somehow let them down and if you had just done one thing differently, they'd still be here. You'll shed a lot of tears at this stage.
Anger & Bargaining - At this stage, you become angry and indignant. You insist on having answers. You want someone to explain it, you want someone to fix it. You want someone to take responsibility because it just isn't fair. You are willing to make deals with God, the devil, or anyone else if it will just bring them back. And you want it now.
Depression & Loneliness - The realization of what's happened begins to set in. You are beginning to accept that they're not coming back. You begin to think about life without them. You experience depression and a gloomy sadness weaves its way into your everyday routine. You reflect back on how things used to be and try to reconcile it to how things are going to be now without them.
Making a Turn
Rebuilding and Working Through It - At this point, you've decided it's time to move on with your life. You begin to create ways to find moments of happiness that still honor their memory. There is a certain respect that you have for the one who has died. You begin to see your work at getting better as something they would be proud of and you feel good about doing it. You know that there are others in your life that need you and want you to be whole. Keeping in mind that what you have been through will some day help someone else walk in their own pain and loss.
Acceptance & Hope - At this stage, you have accepted their death and you realize that blaming anyone (including yourself) doesn't bring them back. You realize that life does go on and you will be okay. You have hope for your future, even though your future no longer includes them. You honor their memory with loving thoughts of them. You are proud of yourself for being a survivor. You still miss them, you still wish they were here, but you understand that in order for you go on, you must accept that which you can not change and in doing so things will be okay just like they are.  

Loving on you today, and praying for your pain to pass quicky!
Bren

WHY I LOVE THE BIBLE

I love the Bible because it has proved itself real to me. It is alive and gives life and hope to those that desire it. It is the living Word of God, it is the very breath of God. It speaks on His behalf to the world. It represent Him; Who He is and what He has to say. The Bible lives because it is the Word of the living God. It is a living thing that reproduces  and multiples, it propagates, it gives birth and life to the one who seeks what it has to say, believes and ask something of it. A stone does not reproduce because, it is not alive. A car while it may run, is not alive because it cannot reproduce another car. Concerning God’s Word, Peter said in I Peter 1:23, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” A single seed under the right conditions can produce thousands of fruit. Why, because within that seed lies the genetic makeup of life. The word of God is a seed. It will grow wherever it is planted. Depending on the conditions of the heart of the one whose been confronted with it, God’s Word will either take root and produce a mighty spiritual fruit, or it will convict the heart that it has come into contact with, of it’s need for God….the result is left up to the individual’s choices and what they choose to do with the truth that is planted in every heart that the seed or word of God comes in contact with. But, it never returns void. It always accomplishes it’s goal to convict and change or simply to convict one of their spiritual need for God or truth.

It has a power that acts and reacts like a person towards me. Because it is alive, it gives me comfort when I seek it. The pages weep with me; in God’s understanding of where I may be sometimes in my deepest pain and suffering. It sings to me and causes me to run to it when my joy needs to be restored. It even wrestles with me, and smites me, when I need it. God’s Word will often times whisper my name, calling me to it, when there is something that I need to hear or be told. It never gets old, it never rejects me. When I make the effort to hide it in my heart, I cannot forget it. There have been so many times that I have picked it up, weary, stressed, distracted by so many things, my mind cloudy, my body tired and sleepy, and as I open it up, the strangest thing happens. The weariness drains from me, the distractions leave me and I find myself slap dab in the middle of something that I needed to hear or know. Nothing else does that for me like the Word of God does.

Throughout the ages men have tried to refute, disregard, discredit, deny, attack, restrict, contain and destroy the Word of God. Yet it continues to spring back greater each time, why? Because it is alive, God’s Word lives. It is sharper than any double edged sword. It cuts deeper than any cutting tool known to man, even into the soul of a man, woman, boy or girl. I read once where God’s word must be put to the throat of every sinful tendency, habit or thought, to reveal to man his nature and the nature of the living God. The sinful nature must be slayed, and the Word of God is the tool that can do it. It need only to come into contact with a heart to reveal and bring change. God’s Word cuts thoroughly, “It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow”

I love the Bible because through God’s revealed spoken word, it has given me new life, and the power to walk in it! There is much to say about the Bible….but it is the One that it reflects, that is the most important…and that is why I love “It” so!

Loving you today…

Bren

FINDING YOUR WAY BACK TO GOD

One of my most favorite pastimes is reminiscing of days gone by. I so often will catch myself in a haze of past nostalgia, longing for another time, another place. Sometimes oddly enough, it is a sort of longing or aching to go back, homesick for a time in my past or even as illogical as it may seem, a time that I never even lived in. Similarly, King David felt the same way at times. He too had his feelings and longings of earlier times as he wrote about them in Psalm 84. David longed and ached in his heart to return to the place where he used to meet with God. He understood that to do so, would be a pilgrimage or journey that would have obstacles and difficulties along the way. Choices that he would have to be willing to make to get there. Yet he was willing to do whatever it took to get him back to the place, his heart longed to be.

Like David, when we desire to return to the place where we once were, in our walk or relationship with God, it is our faith that will lead us and allow us to overcome those obstacles until we arrive back to that place and into His arms! You see, it is not the place, the situation or the location where God was real to us that is significant, but only a place… of significant because God was there. For Abraham, it was Bethel, for Moses, it was Mt. Sinai, for Zaccahaeus, it was the tree, for Mary it was the ground where she lay with her face down in the dirt ashamed, broken and needing God’s help. For Jesus it was the Garden of Gethsemane, for Peter, it was when he heard the rooster crow, for Paul, it was the road to Damascus. For King David it was the Temple. For in the Psalms he writes about where he use to meet with God. For whatever reason it was that he had been away from the Lord, he was now expressing his feelings in the language of a poem, longing to return. In David’s day, God’s dwelling place was a place, location, a building, a physical temple. Today, according to Romans 8:9-17, He dwells in the heart of every person that has received Him in their hearts, as Lord and Savior. In the Old Testament, God had a temple for His people. In the New Testament, He has a people for His temple.

Longing for God reflects an integrity of our intention, when we cry out for the living God to return to him and be restored. You see David was not really crying out for the house of God but the living God that dwelt in the house or temple. Ps. 84:2 and Ps. 42:1 express David’s heartfelt desire to go wherever God was and be with the true “Living God”. When a person goes to a courthouse they are not seeking a courthouse but the justice that they are hoping to find there. Same thing with a hospital, it is not the building that you want when you go there, but the healing that you believe you will get once you get there.

Longing for God reveals a desire for intimacy with Him. David’s level of desire for God is reflected in Psalm 84 as he says that his soul yearns and even faints for the courts of the Lord; his heart and flesh cried out…that even the sparrow and swallow had found a place of refuge near God’s altar...oh how he envied those birds, that they were where he once was…close to the lover of his soul.

 Do you long to come back to the Lord? Is that longing the most intense in your life? It should be, and it can be! James 4:8 promises that, if we will come near to God, He will come near to us! James 4:7-10 tells us how to come…by submitting ourselves to God resisting or turning away from the things that want to draw us away from Him…and as David often times would do (and this is why He was the apple of God’s eye), humble yourselves to God, change your attitude into brokenness over your situation seeing it as God sees it and be willing to do those things, whatever they may be…that will restore you…and God Himself will lift you up and give you His power to accomplish whatever it is you may need to do, to get to Him.  

Praying for you today, as you find your way back to God and go home….where you belong!

Love you, Bren

WHEN YOUR SITUATION SEEMS HOPELESS

In one of the Psalms the psalmist writes, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire”, can you relate to what David is saying? I recall reading an article once that was in the Readers Digest about a couple of guys who went Duck hunting in a rural area in the northeastern part of Anchorage Alaska called Duck Flat. As they both got out of their boat and begin to trudge through the thick mud, one of the men got his wader stuck and hollered out for his friend to help.  Upon returning back to his friend, they both realized that the one stuck in the mud had actually stepped into a patch of quick sand, caused by Alaskan glaciers that forms a loose, glacial silt like consistency of fine talcum powder. While it may appear to look like mud, it is far more deadly. The two friends had hunted those forest together for many years, and knew exactly what they were faced with and they also knew that they were working against time to get him out. Not only were the two men working against a spongy ground that was determined to sink the man that was stuck; they were also working against the Alaskan tide that was among the fasted, most dangerous tides in the world. After trying to retrieve his friend from the slimy pit to no avail, the man told his friend that he would have to go and get help from the Air Force Base and promised to be back. Upon reaching the Air Force Base a special rescue team was scrambled to the site of the sinking friend and they began his rescue. Every effort they made seemed only to worsen the situation. The helicopter pilot tried many different approaches in lifting the stranded man out of the mud and mire. But he grew discontented as each effort failed. Upon each attempt to hoist him up, the stranded man would signal franticly for release; his eyes wide with pain. You can only imagine as how helpless they all felt as they saw this young man, with his whole life ahead of him slowing vanishing into the slimy pit, never to see him again. By this time, the mud was up to his armpits. The tide could come in at any time, and all their efforts would have been in vain. The water was quickly rising at a rate of one foot every twelve minutes. As all hope seemed to be lost, the stranded man felt a sudden shift and when he did, his feet was released from the waders and he was pulled free at last. Wow! I don’t know about you, but that is a gripping story if ever I have heard one.

Like the man stranded in the slimy pit, David the man that wrote, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire” also understood the freedom of being released from a pit that was slowing taking him under. While David’s pit may not have been a true pit of quicksand; the feelings he had, were so strong that he felt that he could compare them to what it must be like to actually being in stuck in a pit, just about to sink. Whatever it was that David was feeling at the time, we know that his troubles seemed to be beyond even the greatest human effort that he had access to at that time. His own efforts proved only to be futile. Like the sinking man, David found that the more he struggled over his situation the worse it became and the more his situation drew him deeper into the pit.  

In his writing David was trying to create and convey his deep understanding of what it is like to plunge down into despair and what can appear to be, an impossible situation. The things that caused David to feel that way could have been from his own personal sin in his life, or from the effects of opposition from others be it friend or foe….it could have been from a military defeat or simply the effect of choices made during the course of battle or war.

Not really knowing the cause is actually to our advantage though. Because without knowing what it was that made David feel that way, it allows us a window of sympathy and compassion to know that while others have also gone thru trying times, we are encouraged that we too can come out on the other side freed, once the trouble passes.

Where is your place of absolute impossibility today? In a relationship, a habit, a wrong choice or a relapse of a past sin that you cannot seem to get over?  Is someone opposing you? You never meant it to become what it has become. At first it was harmless, nonthreatening, but now you are stuck in it and feel the mud and mire covering you with darkness and depression. You wish there was a way out!

If so, may I tell you that those are the very things that God is best at! Pulling us up and rescuing us when we cannot rescue ourselves. However, for Him to get to us, we must move out of His way and allow Him to work the way He wants to in our lives and not in accordance to how we want to instruct Him to do. The secret to receiving His help is found in Psalm 40:1 and says, “I waiting patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry”. You see the problem is that God knows that we need Him; we are the ones that need to learn that concept and learning comes so many times through trials and tribulations, pain and even heartbreak.

If God places you in an impossible situation, He has a divine plan for your rescue. But you must call on Him, and wait for Him to show up….for He is never too late for those that cry out to Him with the right heart attitude. So, remember, when you cannot see a way out…look to Him, He has the tools to get you to safety.

Loving you today,
Hold Fast,
Bren

THE SERMON OF THE ROOSTER

It was easy to follow Christ in the beginning.  For the three years that Jesus spent with His disciples in ministry, He was busy teaching and preparing them for the coming day, that He would leave them. During those years, He had been observed, studied, criticized and even harassed by the religious scholars and priests within His own race and religion, as well as the Romans who feared by what they saw, believed were political indicators of an upheaval. He was misunderstood by everyone at first, until they had a personal encounter with Him as Peter the fisherman did.  While Peter loved Jesus, He never really understood the full meaning of  the Lord’s life and purpose  until after Peter walked through the tribulation of public denial, of which had already been predicted by Jesus Himself. The brokenness over his denial is echoed by the bitter tears that he wept upon realizing what he had done and remembering, not only what Jesus had predicted that he would do, but by his own words that he had told Jesus, were now coming back to haunt him. Words of loyalty and promise, as He told Jesus, “…though everyone else forsake you, I never will!”.  Peter’s denial would progress from a simple denial of, “I do not know Him” to a denial plus an oath, that he did not know Him and to finally, cursing and swearing with a very determined denial, that he never knew Jesus. Then the moment came, the sound of the rooster’s crow that brought a shock wave to Peter, as he remembered Jesus’ prediction. God had used that rooster to bring a message to Peter that would not only rock his world, but forever change it! Nothing Christ could have ever done or said to Peter, would have had such an impact as that moment.

As Judas’ betrayal of Christ sets him apart, so Peter’s denial sets him apart from the other disciples of Christ by what they did. Peter was closely associated with Jesus from the time that the Lord called him to become a fisher of men, until he fell asleep in the garden, too tired to stay up and keep watch. From that point Peter’s level of commitment went down hill. Jesus had told all the disciples according to Matthew 26:31, that they would all fall away on account of Him. But Peter in verse 33 told Christ that no matter if everyone else fell away, that he himself would not. Jesus told Peter in verse 34 that, “…this very night you will disown me 3 times, before the rooster crows”. Peter responded back to Jesus declaring that even if he had to die with Him, that he would never disown him….and the other disciples said the same in verse 35.

Later that night, Jesus was arrested. They seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. Peter followed at a distance and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there by the fire. She looked at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," Peter said. The servant girl said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them."  and again Peter denied it. The third denial brought so much grief and strain to Peter, that he was emphatic about his denial as he cursed as he denied knowing Jesus, according to Matthew 26:73-75: After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, "Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away." Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And Peter went outside and wept bitterly.

The Gospel of Luke 22:61 describes the moment of the last denial as follows: The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." That rooster preached the same message to Peter,  that the donkey did to Balaam in the Old Testament. A message of rebuke and chastisement.
Matthew 10:32-33 stresses the importance of our public witness as an essential element of our discipleship to Christ and Jesus Himself tells us that… "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." Peter's denial is in direct conflict with his human nature and that of the cost of being a discipleship of Christ. We know that Peter was forgiven for denying Christ, because he was broken and repented. Peter went on to become the rock upon who God would use to bring the gospel to a world in need of it. He would never again deny Christ again. He would however be beaten, thrown into jail, ridiculed, observed, studied, criticized and even harassed by the religious scholars and priests within His own race and religion, as well as the Romans who would ultimately kill him for his faith. After he received the sermon from the rooster, Peter began to see Christ for Who He really was and better understood the cost of being a true follower of the living God.
God uses many avenues of outreach to bring us to surrender to Him. If we do not hearken and yield to them, we are of no use to Him and our faith is in vain.  For Peter, the light bulb went off for him as he heard the rooster’s crow and realized the very thing that God was trying to tell him. What sermon has God been sending your way lately and by what means is He trying to get your attention? He tells us in His Word, that if we love Him, we will obey Him. Is there an area of your life that He is asking you to surrender. If so, do it today….drop all that you have been thinking, and run to Him!
Loving you today,
Bren