WHAT IS YOUR LEVEL OF COMMITMENT IN YOUR FAITH?

Some of my best reading has been books or testimonies devoted to the lives of Martyrs, of whom have given their very lives for the sake of the gospel and as a witness to their captors of their personal faith in Jesus Christ. Their stories are all heart-rendering, alarming and convicting as they cause us to pause and question our own level of commitment to the One who died for us.

One book that was required reading for me in Bible college was called No Time For Tombstones. The story picks up during the Vietnamese New Year celebration of 1968. Some US citizens were indignant to learn of an attack made by North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong upon South Vietnamese cities and towns. An attack in which several Protestant missionaries were murdered and others kidnapped. In the book it’s authors tell the story of the assault on Banmethuot in the Central Highlands. They focus their story upon the capture of three Americans, two of them  missionaries, Hank Blood and Betty Olsen. Mike Benge, was an USAID agricultural advisor.

Being falsely identified as U.S. Military collaborators, the three were chained together and force to march through the jungle for many months. Their most relentless enemy proved to be malnutrition, as the captives were denied basic food necessities and medical care. Debilitation took its toll on them all as first Hank, then Betty, died agonizing deaths during their capture. However, before their death, their great witness for Christ shined through in their unwavering courage and forgiving love for their persecutors.  Their love touched not only some of their captors, but also the man that became their eternal friend. Mike Benge's heart became broken and convicted and through the two missionaries spiritual light, Mike too found his own faith in God. Eventually released from a Hanoi prison camp, Benge told his story to the authors of No Time For Tombstones.

In the Book Tortured for Christ, a Romania pastor shared his story of his imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, constant sufferings form hunger, cold, the mental anguish of brainwashing and mental cruelty and more. He shares that in 1949, when Soviet propaganda was asserting that free Christian worship was being tolerated behind the Iron Curtain, the Communists arrested him in Romania for secret Christian activities.

His wife Sabina Wurmbrand’s also shares in another book about her efforts to get her husband released, her subsequent imprisonment and, above all, her unceasing efforts to help build a Christian Underground Church in restricted areas around the world. The Communists to this day cannot tolerate genuine Christianity, and are still executing or imprisoning underground Christians.

In my own reading and understanding of what a true Martyr is, I believe that it is not their death that is so awesome, but that the fact that they live a life of love before their captors. To me this is what distinguishes a Martyr. One that can indure hardships with grace and love.  T.S. Eliot an American- born English poet, playwright, and literary critic gives one of the best descriptions that I have ever heard and needs to be rendered not only on behalf of the Martyr, but to every child of God. He describes a martyr as one “who has become an instrument of God who has lost his will in the will of God; not lost, but found it. For he found freedom in submission to God. The Martyr no longer desires nothing for themselves, but only God be glorified."

The original Greek word for martyr means witness. The scripture tells us in Acts 1:8, “You shall be witnesses (martyrs) to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” For the most part when we think of Martyrs we think of Christians that die because they refuse to deny Christ. Yet, we should also view the martyr as one who lives for and reflects the love of God in spite of their situation and circumstances. While there is no doubt that the Martyr that dies for their faith should be applauded, his work before his death is what really counts.... in the words of one of the greatest Martyrs….to live is Christ….to die is gain! I will let you figure out who that was!

Our level of commitment should be that of letting our light so shine before men daily....that they may see our good works and glorify our Father. That means to die to what we want; and live to do what He wants!

Hold Fast,

Bren

WHAT RELIGION MADE ME

As I look back through the years before I gave my life to Christ, I recall the many, many times that I went searching for God, and yet in my journey to find Him in all the religions and denominational struggles of who was right and who was wrong, God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Here am I, the One that you are seeking”. I found that religion itself did nothing for me but make me empty, yet in my earnest seeking, that emptiness drove me to find that only Jesus Himself could give me the peace that I was seeking and fill the void that was in my heart. 

From my earliest years as a small child, I guess I must have attended every church that was in whatever town we might have lived in. Being young, it never entered my mind that so many people had so many opinions and views of God and how to get to Him. But I was never swayed or disappointed to the point of giving up in my quest to find the answers that I was seeking in spite of the disagreements that I encountered in the churches that I attended.

As a child, I simply sought God out of my need for love, compassion, friendship and understanding. As a youth, I recall seeking God for forgiveness in the mistakes that I was making as well as having the onset of a real need for wisdom in my life. As a young adult, my need for God drove me to peruse Him on a deeper level. I began to hunger for God, to be cleansed from the guilt of my sins, for in those days I found that no matter how small or how big my sin may have been, I began to see them as God must have and my heart grew heavier with the conviction that I was not living the life that I knew deep in my heart that I should be living. It was during those days of strong conviction and drawing, that God brought me to a personal understanding that I needed to give my life to Him and stop trying to let my religious knowledge about Him be my salvation and way to Him. I finally found out that Jesus was right; when He said in the book of John, that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no man comes to God but through Him.

For some people bear and even pass through their conviction never allowing it to draw them to God, humbling their hearts in surrender to Him. Eventually the pang of conviction goes away and with it goes the passing of the Spirit of God never to bother them again. With some people it seems to take longer for them to turn to God than it does others. Yet, for some, God knows that they will never turn to Him no matter how long He gives them.

The scripture’s tell us that each man must work out his own salvation. Working out one’s own salvation does not mean that each individual person find God in whatever religion that they choose to believe in. ….their is only One Way according to the Word of God and what Jesus Himself told us. What it does mean is that no one else can give you salvation, not even yourself. Each person must find that out for themselves as they work through their own personal convictions that God brings into their lives.

Humanity can be assured that at some point in every life, the Creator of the universe and of all mankind will walk by one day tapping them on the shoulder and say to them (in whatever kind of words or picture or experience or expression He so choose to say) “Here am I, the One that you are seeking”; and when that happens, it will be up to that person as to how they respond to God’s invitation to receive salvation.

As I look back upon those days of my own personal journey to find God, I can recall with great understanding now, how God moved in and through every situation and circumstance using everything that touched my life to show Himself to me. Religion made me empty, but turning and surrendering my life to God through the work that His Son did on the cross for me, brought me the peace that I had been seeking and the joy of knowing what His suffering was all about!

The Bible tells us that it is our sin that separates us from God, and to be restored to him, we need only to repent and turn from it.  I am reminder of two men in the scriptures that God tapped on their shoulder as well, as He dealt with them in their sin. One surrendered; the other died without ever knowing the peace and restoration that could have been his, had he humbled his heart in brokenness to God over His sin.

2 Chronicles 33 tells the story. Deprived of his liberties, separated from his evil past, without any prospect of ending his current situation and with only his days in a wretched prison, that he then found himself to be in, King Manasseh son of former King Hezekiah now was forced to give thought to his past. As he did, he began to cry for mercy and deliverance. He confessed his sins, condemned himself and humbled before God, he loathed himself as a monster of impiety and wickedness. Yet he prayed to be pardoned through the abundant mercy of the God of his Fathers. Who can tell what tortures of conscience, what pangs of grief, and fears of wrath, what agonizing remorse he endured, as he looked back on his many years of apostasy and rebellion against God; on his having led thousands into sin and perdition; and on his blood-guiltiness in the persecution of many of God's children?

He had been a wicked and vile King, yet in that prison that he had created for himself as a direct consequence of his sin, he prayed to the only One that could give him the pardon that he sought. This King like many today sought after the wrong things. He created a religion of alters and Asherah poles that left him empty. His searching for God through astrology in the stars brought only discontentment, grief and emptiness that eventually led to him being shackled and led to Babylon with a hook in his nose. Yet, it was there in those bronze shackles with a hook in his nose like a pig, that in his distress, he called out to God and humbled himself greatly before the Lord so much that the scripture says that when he prayed, it moved God to compassion.

While Manasseh had a change of heart and repented of his sins, his son Amon did not; and as did many of the kings that ruled over Jerusalem, he did even more evil than his father. Whatever warnings or convictions that God may have sent Amon's way; he never humbled himself and repented. He only ruled two short but evil years, and was soon cut off because of his sins. God had provided a warning for all men not to abuse the example of God's patience and mercy that he showed Manasseh, as an encouragement to continue in sin. But Amon refused to learn from his father’s mistakes. His life was ended in an assassination by his own circle of friends that he had trusted; his officials. May God help us to be honest with ourselves, and to think aright concerning our own character and how we live, least death fixes us in an unchangeable state as did Amon.

Seek Jesus, while He may be found....today is the day of salvation!
Loving on you,
Bren

FINDING YOUR TRUE IDENTITY

I was reading a story the other day about a man who had a very strange encounter with his own personal identity crisis. He found out that he had been given up as a child by Jewish parents to save his life and spare him from the concentration camps during World War II. Upon finding out that his birth parents were sent to their deaths themselves, he was of course deeply shaken... and with his new found knowledge of his past, he immediately experienced an identity crisis. 
As he learned of his Jewish decent, he began wondering if he should feel different concerning certian things. Should he act differently.....think differently....and should he become a practicing Jew or not. His questions provoked some possible major changes that could be taking place in his life in his near future. This man had his world rocked by news that brought new information concerning who he now was; and change into his daily life.


This story reminded me about how I felt when I first came to Christ. How learning that I was a new and different person upon accepting Chirst into my life, I had become as a new creation, the old in me was gone, my world was rocked and changed as well! That change also  touched and effected others around me that knew me as well.  It also reminds me about another person who like the  man in my introduction, was given some important information one day and he had to decide what to do with it. The information was so important to the man that it literally changed his life. While he may not have understood all the demographics and theology of the questions that were being ask of him, and the information that was being given to him, he simply took what he knew and allowed it, to change his life.

JOHN 9:1-7  1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Having been born blind, he more than likely had been ostracized all of his life. For that is how they treated people with disabilities during that time. He had also been made to feel like his parents were the attributing factors to his blindness, because of some sin that others felt that they may had committed. Even the disciples thought so. While everyone around him was trying to trick him into making a false confession, he stands by the truth that he had and the One who had given him sight. He doesn’t get into complicated theology. He just told them what he knew... for that is all he could do; and knowing what he knew,...  no one was going to change it.

In the story of the blind man, there were many characters involved other than just Jesus and the Blind man...there were his parents, his neighbors, his religious leaders and all the people at the local temple. In your life and mine there are also other characters involved in our lives in our own moments of crisis, and they are watching us and wondering what we will do, how we will respond, what facts do we know that will bring us to be steadfast during those hard times. They may even ask us and question us in how we are responding to what God is allowing or doing in and through us.

It’s not always  easy to be a witness for Christ. Being a witness doesn't mean we have to have all of the answers, but rather simply to just tell people what Jesus did for us and what we do know about Him. Becoming a Christian doesn't just rock or touch our world, but also those in our family and friends; who often don't know what to make of our conversion and witnessing, and they may feel uncomfortable with us. Possibly because of their being uncomfortable with us they may even "cast us out" from their friendship and no longer have anything to do with us for they no longer have anything in common with us. They may no longer want to be our friends, because Jesus has not yet opened their eyes; and that they can not see Jesus the way you do or like the blind man did.

You see the scriptures teach us that not all will know Him, it tells us that each man will give an account for what he chose to do about Jesus....and for many, God will say, "depart from me for I never knew you....." they will respond by saying things like....but look what I did in your name.....yes, even religious leaders and good ole folk will not be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven on their own merit.

It is one of the saddest thoughts I have ever had, as I think about those who will have to hear those words , "Depart from Me for I never knew you..."   It is sad because there will be many, many people that believe like the religious leaders did, that they had it going on...them and Jesus had their own thing going....yet, they were so far from the truth. Because their faith was base on man's rules and regulations and not what God sees as truth.

For many people, their faith is based on some bits and pieces of what they have heard or read. Theology that fits their lifestyle. But is so very far away from what the Word of God teaches and so very far away from how a child of God should live. Yet they hold on to the fact that they believe in Jesus....and that is enough. To simply believe that He was real and lived on earth.

However, satan himself believes that Jesus is real, yet he has chosen the life that he wants to live. The Bible tells us that whatsoever a man thinks in his heart ...so is he!

Salvation requires more than an intellectual knowledge of Jesus. It requires a repented heart and lifestyle change that only comes thru the new birth. If there is no lifestyle change, then reconsidering the fact that a genuine conversion in Christ ever took place would be well worth the effort in pursuing. .

Confronting and confirming your spiritual identity is well worth finding out. Don't let the sun go down without knowing for sure where you stand in Christ. He is waiting ...run to Him!.

Loving you and praying that you settle whatever it is that you are seeking from God,
Bren

THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO SAY

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE WHAT GOD OFFERS YOU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6otVXSD_3M


MY PRAYER IS THAT THIS EASTER YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS HE IS....

I love you so much!
Bren

WALKING IN THE DARK

I have a prayer that I wrote inside my Bible years ago as a new Christian that I still pray to this day. It says, “Father never let me doubt in the darkness what You have shown me in the light. For I know that You are not absent during Your silence in my life.


I came to know Christ at the age of nineteen. I soon learned that there was nothing more important as a child of God than to know Him; and to do that I had to study His Word. It was and is today the desire of my heart for God's will to be accomplished in and through my life regardless of the consequences to me personally. I have learned that I can trust Him when by faith I can see, feel and know His presence and peace as well as when it is dark and I have no feeling, no sense to go by and no great miracle to see, only a feeling of darkness. It is in those times that I remind myself, that God is not absent during His silence in my life. Even though it may seem like He is not speaking to me through His Word or in my situations and circumstances. However, by faith I know that He is, and that alone is enough. My faith becomes my vision when I find myself walking in the dark without answers.


Years ago when I younger, I went spelunking with some friends in a cave in Arkansas. Some of us had never been spelunking before and had no idea of what we were getting ourselves into. Fortunately we going with some people who had been exploring caves for years; and they knew exactly where all the dangerous spots were, in the cave that we were going to explore. I don’t believe that there was any other time in my life, that I have ever placed myself in a more dangerous situation, as I did that day.


It wasn’t long being in that dark hole, in the ground, before I realized that I had made a terrible mistake. While we were all warned to be careful, they never mentioned all the things to be careful of. For example, it was so dark that we could not see one foot in front of the other and that we would be walking on a sidewalk that was 1 foot wide, if that wide, in most places and is referred to as a ridge, not a sidewalk. They tied us to a rope that was connected to the person in front of you and behind you. That way if someone should fall into a pit, lake of fire or pool of blind fish, where your body freezes almost the instant you come in contact with the water, that person will not have to go by themselves. ….(and yes I did take a little comfort in the fact that, if I should be the one to fall, I would not go alone) but that thought soon gave way to despair when it dawned on me, “What if the person in front of me or behind me falls?”. I spent a lot of time thinking about how mad I was going to be at either of the two jug heads that I was tied with; if they did not pay attention and slipped, dragging me with them.


The walls and floor of the cave were all wet and cold. To slip and fall into the dark abyss was an understatement in that cave.  I guess, that in the kayos of hurrying to get started, they failed to mention that whatever we did, we SHOULD NOT TOUCH the walls. They also forgot to tell us the fact that we were not going to be alone once we dropped through the 10 foot hole in the ground….yes DROP…INTO….THE GROUND….not walk into the opening of a coil miners cave. I’m talking drilling for oil kinda hole.


I felt pretty dumb as I let crazy people talk me into dropping down into a 10 foot hole in the ground... into completed darkness….however, as I accidentally tried to grab hold of the wall of the cave to catch myself as I landed on my feet, I realized, that  it was not meant for humans to go under ground and I had no business there. It seemed like the instant that my hand hit the wall of that cave something touched me and to this day I have no idea what it was. I did not give it time to get intimate with me though, as I snatched my hand back and quickly put it in my pocket.

As I (and yes by the way, I did scream) managed to resume my shaky but nevertheless composure, I stood frantically, contemplating as to staying right there until everyone else was through with their “stupid little trip”, to what had seemed to me, had turned into a “trip to see the devil” or climb back up the shaft, neck or whatever they called that upside down corridor (or in my own terminology way of escape).


I reasoned that there was no way that I had the muscle to climb back up that rope by myself. I also knew that I positively did not want to be by myself in total darkness when the group walked off and left me behind with whatever it was that lived down there and had greeted me with a hand shake when I first arrived. So, I chose not to stay by myself and with much reluctance, I followed the crowd.


While many years have passed since that little excursion, I in all honesty have forgotten any of the fun parts that I may have experienced, and I am left with only feelings of fear whenever I recall that trip. I do remember, that it sounded like a chicken farm as we all followed each other through the darkness and I found out pretty soon that I was not the only chicken on the farm. The girls were all making what seemed to be these clucking sounds that made the guys all laugh; in which we all knew, they were using their laughter to cover their own fear; because of the sound effects that were coming from their feet scratching around trying to find their next foothold. It sounded like chickens scratching on the ground. Believe me, when it comes to darkness we are all mere chickens!


I do recall a few very important lessons that I learned from my experience in walking in the dark. One was the fact that, it is possible to walk in darkness and survive. And when you are trying to walk in complete darkness, you learn awfully quick to either stay where you are (with the fear of the unknown that hides in the darkness) or trust the one who says….I know the way! I have been here before and if you will place your feet in the places where I have stepped, you will be fine (Of course I did realize, that it was easy for the guide to say that, because he was not tied to Curley and Moe). But I knew that he was the only way out and I had no choice but to stay with him, or either with whatever that was trying to get my attention by touching my hand. Easy choice!


I also realized that the darkness was in this weird sort of way, my friend. It protected me from seeing the little spooky things like the little creatures that live in caves. Some people say, that most animal’s instinct, is to run from you….not in caves….they are so lonely down there that they can’t wait for you to come see them…or better yet, feel them! Yuck!


Well of course I am jesting here….but never the less, there was a lesson for me to learn from my experience in walking around in that dark cave. The lesson was that it was possible to walk even when I could not see the next step; and while darkness may appear to be scary, I do not have to fear it as long as I am following someone whom I can trust to lead me through it; no matter if the darkness is physical or spiritual.


You see the scriptures tell us that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with darkness and principalities. That means, that we are wrestling with principalities that live in the dark... and while we may not be able to see them, we can feel their presence... through discouragement, pain, disorder, grief, anger, bitterness and the list goes on. It is so easy to trust God in the light when we can see everything and it all makes sense. But sweet friend, we can trust Him in the dark as well! He is there to be our guide when we can not seem to find our way. While we may not be able to see, we can trust His eyes to see for us and lead us through the dark times, because we know who He is and that He see’s the big picture when we can not. His footsteps are stable and they can be trusted. But the only way that we can see them in order to follow them, is through faith and obedience. Our faith and obedience is the vehicle that allows God to take us where He goes.


Sometimes God may ask (Psalm 46:10) that we be still and wait for a time. When He does, we need to stop and not make another move. Not until we have exact direction as to what we need to do next. So many times we get ourselves into these “fixes”, because we do not want to wait. As we begin to wonder around on our own, without His direction, we can find ourselves getting into bigger problems than what we started out with. He tells us in Hebrews 13:6 that He will never leave nor forsake us….that means that He is not absent during His silence. Ps. 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God". During those times that we are being still, we are to know Him, consider Him… understand His abilities to help us, and show us the way that we are to go. That scripture is basically saying….”Hold on a minute now!...Don’t you make a move until you realize who I am, and what my plans for you are!"

It really would do us all some good to remember that more often. Sometimes, we get to going so fast in our decision making that we forget to inquire the mind of God in a situation. Years ago I taught a class of 5 years on Sunday mornings and one day one of the children ask me why we had to close our eyes and sit still when we pray. I of course used all the theology that I had studied in Bible collage and told them...."that it helps our concentration….when we shut our eyes and get still, we can focus better on "Who' we are praying to, and what we need to say".


Sometimes I think God puts us in a quiet situation so that we can have some time to reminisce on the things that are important. Think about what we have done or just think about how good He is and what’s important….and while we are in the quite chair thinking, God is behind the scenes working things out to benefit us. When our girls were little, Charles and I used the board of education whenever it was needed. But many times we would simply make them sit down and tell them to think about what they had done or said, and ask them to think about what God might have to say or feel about their actions and situation . It is only when we decide to get up before He tells us to that our answers and the time we must sit still are prolonged.


There were times when my children were young, that they did not always understand why I did the things that I did on their behalf. Because they were immature and inexperienced, they were unable to understand. They had not experienced life at that point and I had to make the decisions for them on the experience and wisdom that I had as an adult. Yet as they grew up and began to learn from their own experiences have they really understood and learned exactly what I was trying to teach them. But, even though they were immature and inexperienced, they still had to decide whether to trust me or not; and through their trust and obedience they would either attain wisdom and maturity or they could rebel and not grow in that particular area of their life.


That is God’s intentions for His children. Many Christians never grow up….they stay in the infant state of Christianity all their life. I Peter 2 says…like newborn babies… long for the pure milk (meat) of the word, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. I Cor. 3 reminds us that there are Christians that can not be spoken to as mature but as if they did not even know God because of the way they act and reason….”And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food (meat); for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly….Hebrews 5:14 says, But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.


A mature child of God is a growing child. They are growing spiritually because they are feasting on a regular diet of God’s Word. As His Word is ingested their spiritual senses are nourished and serve the Christian by providing discernment, wisdom, and a stronger desire for godliness and to know God on a deeper level. It’s like when a person is born they are babies; and as a baby they can only digest milk from a bottle. As they grow older the idea is that they desire solid foods. Wouldn’t it look odd to see a 40 year old man or women walking around with a bottle in their mouth, because they refused to give it up. As a baby grows their need for food changes from milk to baby food and then to the types of food adults eat. This is the same way it is with being a growing, maturing, child of God. While Christians still posses a sin nature, if they are feeding the spiritual nature and starving the sin nature, their desire to sin and do wrong becomes weaker. They find that they have more power to do as they should and not as the flesh in them tempts them to do. Jesus had those same natures in Him. But through His life's example, He taught that the true child of God can overcome their fleshly nature as well. 

 I believe there is no other place in scripture, where Jesus' human nature is reflected and where He reveals that He is not only God but man, than when He was in the garden. He was surrounded by not only the physical darkness, but spiritual darkness as well. He agonized and begged with the Father concerning His trip to the cross. His pain was so intense, that His body produced blood through it’s pores. His prayer ....that, if there could be any other way to accomplish His goal to save mankind, that His Father would make it happen. Yet, because His spiritual nature was stronger than His fleshly nature, He chose God’s will to be done over His own. That did not mean that His will was wrong or that He was changing His mind, because he struggled; it meant that the will of God was more important to Him than the flesh in Him as He drew closer to that dreaded night and the next few days as they were to bring on the events that were to separated the Father from the Son as Jesus became sin's atonement for the world.

While I do not know what accusations the devil placed in His mind that evening, I am sure that it was similar to what He says to us as he whispers in our ear in dark times. While only God, Jesus and satan know the torment and agony that the Son of God experienced that night, Jesus'  tormentor more than likely used the truth to battle with Him. Things like, “Here you are distressed and deeply in grief and even your friends are unconcerned. Look at them, they are sleeping. They won’t even stay up and hour to pray with you and comfort you. You do realize don't you,  that as you are dying unjustly on that cross that Your own Father will turn His face from You.”.... It was not death that Jesus feared. He knew that for the first time in His life He was going to feel separation from His Father. For He knew that as he was dying on the cross  that God would have to turn His face from His Son as Jesus would take on the SIN of all mankind. God’s Word says that He can not look upon sin. Jesus knew that and the closer He got to the cross the more real it became. However, at the end of His struggle He wanted His Father’s will to be accomplished in and through His life regardless of the consequences to Him personally. As Jesus spoke the words, ..."not My will, but Thine", He sealed His future as He drew closer to the darkness that He had to face alone.


Walking in the darkness is not so bad when you have someone you can trust to get you through it! God’s Word says that He knows and understands the pain and darkness that we go through because He Himself has experienced them as well. His death not only provided provision for all mankind to spend eternity with Him, if they repent and turn to Him accepting the Work that He did on the cross, but it also provideed mankind with the most caring and understanding friend that they could ever know. Jesus said that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life…no man comes to the Father but by Him. John 14:6


He has already walked the path that you are on right now my friend.....look for His footsteps, they are there...and then, begin to place your feet in each step as he shows you. Please know that I love you and pray that you are all growing as you are going….


Love,
Bren

HOW TO SLEEP IN A STORM

Some of my best sleep comes when I know that there is a storm taking place outside my window and I can hear it, but am not really concerned or affected by it. I take comfort in the fact that should the need arise; I have only to run to the safety of my hall closet. For that is the safest place for me to be in my home if the situation calls for it. But until the storm actually draws me into it, I do not have to fear it. The reason I do not fear it is because I trust in the protection of my home for the most part, and should a storm be appointed to take my life, there is not a building on earth that could provide safety and protection for me.

Sometimes God appoints spiritual storms to enter our lives to reveal something that we need to know about ourselves or about Him, most of the time it’s both. As we learn to walk closer to Him the storms are fewer and far between and seem less frightful. Maybe they just seem that way because we are learning to walk with Him in the light that He is revealing to us. We no longer fear them because we have learned that they are sent to us as if the Lord is saying….excuse me, but I am trying to say something here!

You know, for the most part, our relationship to Jesus is simply, just a walking thing……God is constantly teaching us to walk by our faith in Him and not by what we see going on in our circumstances. He is trying to teach us to come up where He is, (run to our closet so to speak) but we are too busy begging Him to come down where we are. Often times He does come down to where we are, but I assure you it is only to pick us up and dust us off, so that we can re-start the process of learning and developing a personal relationship with Him. He knows, that it is best if we can come up to His level, because that is where the calm is. Storms do not brew around the Father. There is only rest and peace. But to get there, we have to go through a process and so many times it is just easier for us to keep begging God to come down to our level, than to make the effort to stretch ourselves and grow up in order to get up. You only have to read the scriptures to see page after page of folks going through the process of being refined into the likeness of the Father. It is with great care and patience that the Lord refines His children. He knows the process that must be taken to rid us of our spiritual carnality and worldly impurities; and the process can only be effective if it is done with the speed that we are learning it. He purges the bad out, so that only the good in us can surface and remain.

The purging comes in many ways, but on the most part it is done through the process of trials and tribulations. James 1 tells us to, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance”. The reason I can trust God in my current situation is because He’s proved Himself true and real to me in my other situations. It’s about going and growing and if we are not going with Him, then we are not growing in Him. Let me explain:

Remember the story about the disciples that were in a boat and a ragging storm came up …and they all ran to Jesus who by the way was asleep! Yep….the storm was ragging yet Jesus was asleep! Matthew 8 tells us, “Then He got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!"

You see at that point even the disciples did not really know Him on the level that Jesus wanted them to. God had His reasons for sending that storm to those men. Jesus was not only the Son of God, need we forget….He was a great teacher as well! As a matter of fact His lesson plan for that day was to take his class on a field trip; and oh what a trip it was to be. Each one of them had a hands on experience with not only the physical nature of the wind and sea but the incredible and awesome nature of God Himself. Jesus needed to reveal to them how weak their faith was and He just happened to be in the boat with them…..imagine….the SON of the LIVING GOD (GOD HIMSELF) was in the boat with them…yet they allowed the storm to raise fear in their hearts …perfect example for us to see ourselves sometimes… can you imagine how they must have felt when Jesus rebuked their faith…notice that as soon as the sea became calm, they were surprised or amazed. They said, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!

I guarantee their mouths popped open and they felt like a heal….I bet some of them thought to themselves….."I can’t believe that I even doubted", while others struggled with their first encounter of who Jesus really was. You see, that always happens to the child of God….when he gets to the other side of the storm….he says to himself…."how could I have ever doubted"….yet they did!

Jesus answered their cry even though they were cries of weak faith. He was trying to teach them through that storm that He was who He said He was. While their faith in Him was weak, and caused Jesus' heart to ache, He continued to be patient with them until they could see Him for who He was.

That is what God is doing in the life of every believer; trying to reveal who He really is. But without faith….it is impossible to not only see and know God, but to please Him as well. The reason Jesus was so calm that He could sleep, was because He knew who God was, and He knew who He was. The storm was not sent for Him. He was resting in that place that I was talking about (His closet where God was) ….up above the circumstance and storm. That is why He acted like He was unconcerned of what was going on. Sometimes we just need to sleep through the storm. Let it happen, maybe it’s not sent for you…..but if it is meant to be a messenger of God, like it was for the disciples or Jonah….it’s best to see and learn what you are suppose to from it! So you do not have to repeat the lesson. Grow as you go…and through the eyes of faith you will see Him in everything, and no longer be fearful every time a storm comes your way! For you will have learned Who and where to run to and you will find that you will run a lot faster each time!

I love you and pray that your storms will drive you to see Jesus....and that you find the peace that you may be looking for!
Bren