WHO'S FIXING YOUR PROBLEMS?

 

Many people are trying to fight their spiritual battles with carnal, fleshly, and worldly weapons. They are trying to use every earthly resource that they can put their hands on to fix problems that can only be fixed on a spiritual level. The apostle Paul is trying in 2 Corinthians 10:4 to tell us that very thing. He says,  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”. Now while he was writing those words to the believers in Corinth, it is to be applied to anyone who is trying on their own to overcome something that can only be fought and won on a spiritual level. Sometimes, it’s not necessarily what we are trying to do that is so wrong, but more often it’s that we’re not doing enough of what’s right.  We should never fold our hands, sit back and take it easy, only to assume that life happens and we can do nothing about it, least the enemy slip in and over take us. We need to be on our guard at all times.  “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” Amos tells us in Amos 6:1. While the church and the people of God are taking it easy, the forces of evil are at work as never before and gets stronger every day. While those powers are working and many of our churches are simply taking it easy.

 

Our churches are not strong because the people that make them up are not strong. A Christian who does not make it a habit of feeding on the Word of God for his own benefit is not going to be a strong Christian. They will not know what to do when the storms come, nor how to respond. God is with His people in the bad times and in good times and will not allow evil to put its hands on them, except as it may do them good, glorify His name, or advance His kingdom. God uses even the wrath of men to praise him and to accomplish his purposes when needed. There shall always be attempts by Satan and his minions to frustrate the plan and will of God in your life. Nevertheless, God's will can never ultimately be defeated in your life unless you opt to refuse His help or deny His power. His Word promises that, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD”. Isa. 54:17 When the devil came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, three times from the scriptures, Jesus said, “It is written” And when Jesus met the devil, He unsheathed His sword and fought him with the Word of God. There is no other way for you to fight except with the weapons and armor of the Living God and they are found in His Word as well as the instructions on how they are to be used. Revelation 12:11, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” What is your testimony sweet friend? Do you have one? If not, you can have one this very day. There is power in the blood of the Lamb, but you must claim it for yourself. No one can do it for you.

“Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might….” Zech. 4:6 Notice it is in “His might,” not our strength. Get into His Word and find out for yourself, taste and see that the Lord is good and faithful to His Word and His people.

WILL YOU TRUST HIM?

 

Before they sinned, Adam and Eve had no idea how utterly disastrous it would be to die spiritually, cut off from the fellowship and holy awareness that they once possessed in relationship with their Creator and Father. Nor could they comprehend the horror of one day being cut off from each other, as well as their children and grandchildren by their physical deaths. They never could imagine the implications of eternal death, separated from God for all eternity. Although all three aspects of their death sentence was imposed upon them the instant they sinned. The one most evident to them, was the fact that they no longer felt the closeness that they once had with the Father. Something irreparable had happened to their rapport with God. That something was spiritual death. They both immediately felt an alienation from God. Adam and Eve went so far as to hide themselves from God, because of the shame from the sin that separated them in their once perfect relationship with their Creator. While God has been working since that time to redeem the world that He created from the grip of sin, at that point sin and death had entered the human race through one mans’ disobedience according to Romans 5:12.

 

There is no way to even begin to understand how that event in the Garden affected all mankind, as well as the world that they were place in to tend. Apart from all the disastrous consequences of man’s disobedience to God, perhaps the worst would be that God withdrew His Spirit from man and man was left with a dead spirit. And while man can live his life as he chooses, he will always have a hole in his heart that is constantly searching and reaching out to the God that created Him, for restoration. Until the day that man surrenders his life back to God, he will always have that spiritual vacuum. This is really the whole story of the Bible summed up. Man’s need for God. While God is sending out daily messages to mankind to be restored and return to Him, He gives them the freedom and will not push Himself on anyone. The only barrier that stands between God and man today is a universal one. That barrier is man himself. The price has been paid, atonement made for the propitiation of man’s sin. God though the death and resurrection of His only Son Jesus the true one and only Christ! Through Him, God made a doorway back to Himself, for us all to be reconciled. But we must enter that door ourselves. No one can do it for us. John 10:7-9 says, “So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

 

You may be like I once was, broken, unhappy, unfulfilled, until I trusted God to do for me that which I could not do for myself.  Will you trust Him today sweet friend, to fill that hole that is in your heart and no matter what you try to fill it with, nothing satisfies? He longs to satisfy that empty void. Will you trust Him to do that for you?

 

Loving on you today!

Bren

MARRIAGE

Often times people hurt one another because they themselves are hurting. Sweet friend, if you don't like yourself, you will never be able to like anyone else, and consequently, you surely won't be able to help your spouse or your children like themselves either. You will spend all your time trying to prove your own value. You must first accept where you have ended up and work towards your own personal healing. Every one of us must come to the place of knowing that where we are today is not where we will necessarily end up. We need to know that God is continually perfecting us. We all need to accept the unconditional love of God and acknowledge the fact that God doesn't love us because of what we do or what we have done,  but because of who we are, period. Nothing we can do will earn His love and that is how we are to love others. Love is the highest form of spiritual maturity. It often requires some form of sacrificial giving of ourselves to someone else. If love doesn't require some sort of sacrifice on our part, we probably don't love the other person at all. If there is no sacrifice in our actions, we are most likely reacting to something nice they did for us, or simply pretending to be kind to gain some control over them or flatter them in some way. Love is almost always undeserved by the person who receives it.

 

Our decisions should always have other’s interests in mind. Even a mediocre marriage requires sacrifice. It is important to understand that true love gives of itself. Sacrifice means you are not going to have your way all the time. That means both the husband and wife are called to love each other with unconditional love. There has to be sacrifice of selfish desires, if a couple is going to enjoy a triumphant marriage. As for me, every day when I get up, I choose to have a good marriage. I'm not leaving that one for chance. My mind is made up before my feet hit the floor. Being the godly wife that the Bible talks about can be difficult. It requires time, commitment, change, and a daily choice to work toward God's best in my marriage. But that effort will always bring God's hand into my marriage and it will yours as well. In marriage we can find the most relaxed relationship on earth. We feel a comfortableness with our spouse like no other, an altogether wonderful state. Unless we guard ourselves, though, we can wound the spirit of our mate. As the saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt.” We must strive to show each other respect. Never take your spouse for granted. Marriage magnifies imperfections. In the intimate space of marriage we must be alert to represent the Lord to each other. Marriage is the most important place to live for Christ. We must do nothing to make each other stumble, but to apply I Timothy 4:7 “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” God blesses obedience pure and simple!

 

Loving on you today!

Bren

 

EVERYBODY LOVES ODIE

 

 

You can learn a lot from a dog! I remember hearing once that, “dogs love their friends and bite their enemies”. But that is not true in every case. For the most part, no matter how most dogs have been treated, they always bounce back to loving someone who treats them with kindness and gives them a little food. You take our dog Odie, he meets us at the back door every morning howling and ready to get in the truck and go with Charles and me to exercise. When we arrive at the gym, he sits patiently every morning in the back of the truck keeping vigil as we go inside, do our routine and come back to him. Even though he has only gotten out of the truck one time to meet a young woman who just loved him, he seems to attract a lot of attention to himself, just sitting in that truck looking around and watching people come and go. Often times, we have people come up to us while we are in the gym and ask about him. Many of them now know him by name and stop by the truck to speak to him as they pass him by. It’s the same way at our house. Everybody just seems to love Odie. There is nothing special about him other than, he just wants to be their friend and his sweet and good nature just seems to attracts people to him like a magnet.

 This morning as we were leaving the gym, I prayed and ask the Lord to help me to be more like Odie. While I want to attract people to me, it is really the Lord in me that I want to be a mirror of, that others may look at me and see the one who give me His nature to love, in spite of how I may be treated by others at times. If Odie were a female her name would have to be Grace or Mercy, because frankly he has not been treated well by some of the other dogs in our neighborhood. Yet, all he wants, is to be their friend. He has survived some close calls with aggressive neighborhood dogs and yet, in spite of it all, his animal instinct and nature continues to draw him back to those mean dogs that attack him whenever he gets the chance to be around them. Doesn’t that remind you of humans? Odie cowers down and ends up going to the vet to get stitches whenever he goes around those aggressive dogs and we have to keep him tied up or in the house these days, for his own protection.

 Some people may think that he is a coward and does not want to fight back. But Odie is not a coward! His love for me and my husband, even our children and grandchildren goes very deep. No doubt in my mind, if he saw one of us being hurt, he would quickly come to our defense. There is something very deep in the lesson that God is teaching me through Odie’s life. You see, God is calling His children to a higher love, a deeper care and concern for others. We don’t have to fight every time something in our nature is attacked. Unlike animals, we can turn the other cheek and let God take care of our reputation. If Odie were the aggressive mean spirited dog like his would-be friends around the corner were, then he would not be the likeable, easy going loveable natured dog that everyone loves. People would not want to come around him, nor would they want to come around us. I have to ask myself, am I drawing people to me or is something in me keeping them away from the love that I need to be reflecting and sharing with them. How about you sweet friend. Are people drowned to you because of the light that you are reflecting for Christ or, are you hiding it under something of no importance in the Kingdom of God? “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1

Loving on you today! -Bren

WILL YOU CHOOSE LOVE?

 

Loving others may not be easy, but for the child of God, it is possible and it is expected. Years ago as I was reading  the love verses in I Corinthians 13, I made the choice to make those precious words my own by saying a little pledge to them. It went something like this. Lord, I will strive to be patient with others and always be kind. I want no desire to be envious of anyone, or anything that they have now or in the future, but will covet to be happy for all that You choose to bless them with.

I also choose Lord, to make every effort to never boast in what I have or what I have done, nor will I purposely choose to be prideful, for pride comes from satan and I want no part of him in my life. I will work hard to not be arrogant and will trust You for what others may perceive of me and my own happiness. I will encourage and build people up every chance and opportunity I get and will not dishonor them with unkind or untrue words. I will always seek to put them and their feelings first and when I realize that I have hurt them, I will ask them for forgiveness and not wait for them to come to me.

Though others may do things that attack any part of my emotions and feelings, I will be slow to have anger against them and make all efforts to keep no records of when someone has wronged, hurt or offended me. I will not delight in the evil things of this world but will rejoice with truth, knowing that it is in my best interest. I will never, ever give up, never loses faith, and will always be hopeful, as You Yourself, helps me to endure through every circumstance and situation in my life. I want what pleases You to please me, all the days of my life.

For everything on this earth will pass away, but love; it will endure forever! I have chosen Galatians 2:20 as my life’s verse,” I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I will strive to die daily and  choose love in every situation that calls me to. It is my choice and I choose this way! What about you sweet friend, what will you choose?

 

Loving on you today,

Bren

CHOOSE LOVE OVER BITTERNESS

The other day a sweet friend called me. She was in tears and broken hearted. She was sharing with me how she had been hurt and offended by some things that someone had said about her. Though she was sad from the hurtful words, she had surrendered her hurt to the Lord and had no offense towards the person who had made the unkind comments. She knew in her heart that there was no truth in what had been said, but she was concerned about what others may think of her, if they were influenced by the slander and how the discord that was being sown against her would leave her reputation wide open to others judging her unfairly.

 

Today, I share with you what I shared with her concerning what the Lord has taught me in dealing with hurtful words and deeds brought on unjustly and how healing can take place when it is handled in the proper way. Words have great power in them. God created the world, using words. He spoke it into existence. We humans also can create through our words as well. We do it through songs, books and the very words that we speak to each other. We can build each other up or we can tear each other down through them. Using words in the wrong way such as slandering, can ruin reputations, destroy families and break up marriages, as well as separate friends. They can destroy communities and even divide churches and nations. What makes the difference when conflict arises in a relationship is how those involved choose to respond. God’s word tells us to, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.“ Hebrew 12:14. First and foremost, never, stop communicating, because you never want to alienate them. We all mess up and wish we could hit some magical "undo" key. It can help tremendously though, if you remember that most people have been in the same situation you're in and if both people take that into consideration, healing comes a lot faster. Focus on mending the situation, not replaying it in your head over and over again.

 

Also, keep in mind that people who gossip, do so to draw people into their own hurt and anger. We have all been guilty of that at times. When we hurt, we want others to feel our hurt as well. We can even want others to side with us and in order to do so, we feel we must tell our side of the story, to give them our perspective. Be bold and ask the person who is having the issue with you to pray for you and be open to what God may show you, yes, even if you think you are in the right. A heart that is saturated with anger, bitterness and un-forgiven hurt can and will become a victim of its own poisonous venom. Someone who refuses to forgive or who harbors grudges and entertains bitter feelings toward another, will be turned over to torturous thoughts, bouts of misery, and agonizing unrest within themselves over time. Forgiveness is not an elective that we can choose in the curriculum of life. It is a required course for every Christian and the tests are not always easy to pass. The term forgiveness means “to release” according to Matthew 18:21-35. Loving people also means forgiving them often and infinitely. In other words, whenever there has been an offense, forgiveness must step up to the plate. Be sure saint of God, that your walk with the Lord becomes better, not bitter through your situations. For if not, you may very well have to repeat it until you see Jesus more clearly.

 

Whether we realize it or not, being hurt is the place where bitterness takes root in a fertile heart that is fallow for planting. So, be sure to sow the right seeds for a godly harvest and not a bitter one. The writer of Hebrews warns that anyone can expect “trouble” from entrenched bitterness. Furthermore, as a result “many will be defiled” Hebrews 12:15. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try restoration may not be possible because someone is unwilling to release and let it go. But God’s word says this to the child of God, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12-18.

 

Loving on you today,

Bren