BEING THANKFUL

 

It's hard to cultivate a sense of gratitude when you're angry, frustrated, or anxious over something that has not gone the way that you wanted or expected. If we do not deal with them properly, they become barriers to our being thankful and even kind. 

Don’t be so busy dwelling on the past or thinking about your future, that you don’t fully notice how good things are or even can be right now, if you change your attitude about them. Dwelling on the past as well as the future can open the door to comparison, which is the only way that you will perceive something as not good enough. 

What you have now is all that exists and comparing that to something that doesn't exist anymore is an easy way to foster dissatisfaction which causes unhappiness in your life and torture yourself over them. People with a strong sense of gratitude, love and appreciation are not luckier people because they feel that way. 

They merely recognize and see the blessings in their lives and focus on them, and less on what they don’t have. I read once that people who count their blessings are generally happier and healthier than people who don't, and I truly believe that. I know it places me in a much better mood whenever my attitude is in check.

 

Often times we miss recognizing our blessings because we tend to slip out of our consciousness or awareness of them simply because we get so used to them being a part of our surroundings. 

We must teach ourselves to notice the little things in our lives and make the effort to deliberately appreciate them. Never struggle and waste your time and energy over why things happen the way they do! Just use them to gird and strengthen yourself for the next time, because for the most part, there is always another challenge right around the corner waiting on you. It’s never too late, start this Thanksgiving by practicing an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness. 

You might even begin to see a change in those around you as your attitude changes and rubs off on them. God’s word teaches us the importance of these very things, yet we are a forgetful people; and that in and of itself is something to be very grateful for! We are the Sheep of His pasture, and He has called us out of those hard places and into a better way of living, if we are in Christ Jesus. 

Are you in Christ Jesus today sweet friend? If so, then…. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Love you and Happy Thanksgiving!

-Bren

WHAT ARE YOU ALLOWING GOD TO FORM IN YOU?

One of the most amazing and majestic wonders on this earth in my opinion are the great, “Grand Canyons”. While I have never seen them in person, I have awed in wonder over the pictures that have displayed the beauty and grandeur and the stories of how they were formed.  The Canyons are simply chasms that reach down into the deepest parts of the earth’s surface. Apart from the few trees and shrubs that are able to attach itself to the sides or walls inside the canyons and at the base of them, everything else is virtually lifeless. Once where life was, is now a world of fossilized limestone and sandstone within its crusty cliffs. God used powerful forces to impact the canyons, with erosion from ice, water, volcano and winds, that all together contributed to the formation that is now the majestic wonder that it is. Sometimes, God uses a similar force in our lives that runs like a curvy river that tries to push out of us pride, selfishness and other sin. There are times in our lives when we give our marriage vows a Judas kiss, and thoughtlessly slice another’s low self-esteem with a razor blade tongue. Often times when we need to be a blessing to our enemy, or someone we think is unworthy of our compassion, we pass sludge’s of rocks and mud onto them, instead of the bread of kindness. Even as a river carves out a mountain, our love can created a river flowing with love and compassion or a wedge that can prevent the loveliness of God in us to pass through us, to reach the places that are dry in our own lives, as well as allowing it to form a bridge that transforms the old in us, to something with more splendor and beauty.

In I Corinthians 13, Paul lays out the blueprint for the bridge that will transform our lives into a majestic wonder if we will allow it to cut through the rock and sediment of wrong choices and waywardness against the One who created us and loves us the most. For he states, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Would you take a minute with me and close your eyes. In your mind roll back the tape of your life. Listen to the way that you talk. See the way that you appear not only  to others, but to God through His eyes. How have you treated others, really treated them. Are you quick to get on Facebook and spew out revenge on someone that has hurt you by your own words. Are you really any better than they are in God’s eyes, not merely your own, by which of course is the standard that you are judging them with, and not Gods. Have you been seeking the highest good you can find in others, or is it much easier to jump on the bad that you see in their lives. Are you bridging the gaping canyon in your own heart with love, or are you allowing it to further separate you from the will of God in your personal life. A famous quote by William Shakespeare says this, “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.” Could this be true of you today sweet friend? We are constantly feeling the pull from the stress caused by life’s daily problems to pull out which ever face we may need, to cover up what sin in us, is stirring up. But if we are in Christ, we must make every effort to neglect the desire that lingers at our door to treat others as sometimes we may being treated. Gen 4:7 tells us that “….But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." It is possible and I am living proof that when I surrender my will to God’s will, I can do things through Christ who gives me the strength to do it. The handy work of God is all around us. But, His crowning and greatest achievement, is in His creation and forming of you and me, and in the end, His finished product will be limited to how much we yield and surrender our lives to His will. What are you allowing God to form in you?

Loving on you today,

Bren

WORK, EAT, SLEEP AND REPEAT!

Work, eat, sleep and repeat! Sound familiar? One of the consequences from the fall of man was not that Adam had to start working, for he was doing that before the fall. But the curse changed the nature of his work. It cursed work as it did everything else. After God created Adam, the first thing He did for Adam was to give him a responsibility, a job, something to do. Work was good and Adam was a workman in the garden of God and he had no need to be disgruntled or ashamed of it. For, he was perfection in every way. It was only through his wrong choice that he blew or forfeited the joy in his work and the first usage of the word toil came into being. Today, mankind is still doing what Adam did before he sinned. We are tending the earth and its inhabitants. Yet, in Exodus we are commanded to work and tend this cursed world for 6 days and then we get a day off to rest from our work as God Himself set the example for us to follow. Work was always God’s design for mankind, yet now we work against the curse to extract what joy we can get out of it. It is not always an easy task and oftentimes very hard, but we must work and toil in it, because it is a world that has a curse on it.

Some days all my work seems to overwhelm me, both physically and spiritually so. I catch myself wishing and praying for another hour in the day to catch up and finish my task, as I seem to run out of minutes in completing them all. As a Christian God has called me to a higher level of commitment as His child both in my workplace and as I serve Him in any other area of my life; be it in my home, my Church or my community. In my quiet time this morning, as I was reading in the book of 2 Thessalonians, I was reminded of that old song, “We’ll work ‘til Jesus Comes, then we’ll be going home”. How refreshing to know that one day there will be a rest for the people of God at the end of their work as well as the rest that we have while we are in the middle of it. A rest that will have made our journey and our work, worth the effort that we had put into it.  

I recall a statement that I have heard many times that says, “The world is divided into three categories: the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the vast majority of those who have no idea what is happening.” In the Scriptures, the Thessalonian church was crippled in 2 Thessalonians 3 by those who backed away from their responsibility, refusing to work, leaving the load in the hands of others. No other book reflects better what the consequences of being lazy and unconcerned are, or that our involvement is essential, not optional as Christians. Christianity is not a spectator Sport, there are no bleachers or grandstands. God does not put one player against another. For the body of Christ is one and all inclusive. The parable of the talents teach us to invest wisely in our eternity in the spiritual work that we are to be about. We are to abound in our work knowing that our toil will not be in vain and that we will reap an imperishable reward that will never be taken from us. Hebrews 12 exhorts us to consider the life of Jesus and His life and work. His goals and commitment was intense and single minded. We are to follow that example. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians verse 9 that he and his colleagues had been setting the examples for them to follow. They offered their time, their love and their service to the Thessalonians in order to offer a model for them to follow. During the last visit that Paul had made to this church, he had worked day and night so as not to be a burden to them, in I Thess. 2:9. Paul had made sure that he had paid his own way, picked up his own tab and was no burden to anyone. Paul had every right to be supported by the church as he was caring the gospel to the lost and disciplining those that had received Christ already. Yet, he willingly forfeited that right for the sake of being an example like in I Cor. 9:1-4. The sternness of his example in 2 Thess. 3:6-15 was not to those that could not work, but to those who would not work. We are never to be a “me first kind of Christian” but to always be an “others first, Child of God”. We are never to cling to what we may think are our rights, but we are to empty ourselves of all rights and cling only unto Him, His will and His ways. The degree of our willingness to give up our rights will reflect what our true priorities are. The most exhilarating times in the Christian’s life, is their climb upwards. But it takes work to get there and yes on occasion, the climb will leave us winded and at times weary, but for those that make it up to the peaks of our Christian commitment, the view is so very worth the climb.  Let us keep pressing on, never giving up, never giving up!

 

Loving on you today,

Bren

 

 

DONT PANIC- JUST FOCUS ON TRUTH!

Kathy, a school volunteer hurried inside the school’s walk in freezer to retrieve several bags of ice for their school’s annual field day event. She knew the children were hot and thirsty and were waiting for her return with the ice for their drinks. There was no one in the school cafeteria to get the ice for her, so she proceeded into the large walk in freezer herself. She picked up the ice and turned toward the massive steal door when she suddenly realized there was no handle on the inside, only a steal square plate in the place of where the handle should be. Her heart began to race as she quickly moved to the point of full blown panic. As she realized that no one knew where she had gone, she began to scream at the top of her voice when suddenly, the door opened and there stood the custodian. He gently smiled and said, “it’s a swinging door ma’am, just push”.

You can imagine her fear of not knowing the facts and her imagination getting carried away with her leading her to fear a situation that was not even real. While God designed our bodies with defense mechanisms that get fired up when our brain knows that we may be in danger, they can sometimes if we allow it, to malfunction and the result can be an over exaggeration of the situation before we have all the facts.  Panic attacks like Kathy had are nothing more than episodes of intense fear or apprehension that are triggered by a situation that was not thought through, which allowed her body to imagine the worst. Her mind was preparing for a false fight, forcing her body to take over to help face the situation or to run from what her mind perceived her danger to be, real or not. While I am in no way an expert, nor am I trying to inject any kind of would be medical or professional help in the matter of fear and panic, I am however, someone just like you, that has experienced  the pangs of fear and panic it in my own life and through the Word of God is learning to apply I Corinthians 9:23-27 that helps me to gain control over my feelings and emotions. It says, “ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize”.

I am learning that I can get control over my body by making it mind me and do what I want it to do, instead of allowing it to randomly go off on its own, parked on STINKING THINKING. As we learn to work with it rather than against it we can learn to move quickly through our fear and worries getting to the other side of them. Under the right circumstances, anyone of us could likely find ourselves in a situation like Kathy. Maybe not is a walk in freezer, but in a situation where our mind is racing with thoughts of worry and fears that may not be life threating at all but can absorb much or our energy and time dwelling on fiction rather than facts.

Patronizing someone that is going through this as well, will just put them on a higher alert making them angry and feeling stupid for feeling the way that they do. Telling someone not to worry in their moment of “Stinking Thinking” might only force them to panic more. Instead, the best thing that we can do or say to them is to realize that we ourselves have more than likely been in that situation and may need to say something more like, "I understand that you're upset and I am here to help you walk through your situation while praying that God will help you to see and focus on Truth and not the moment." Saying things like "there's nothing to worry about," or "it's all in your mind," or "you're overreacting" will exacerbate the problem. Their fear or worry is very real to them at that moment, and the best you can do is help lead them to the Lord and allow Him to show them what they need to see, minimizing or dismissing their fear or worries in any way can make their situation worse. As a child of God, one of the many wonderful things that I have and am learning in my walk with Him is that; I never have to worry about knowing what is and is not truth. Because if I really want to know in humility, the Holy Spirit of God will reveal it to me or either God has another plan that involves me not knowing at the time and even in that, I have peace trusting in His reasons. You see the closer we walk with God the less we find that we have to know, in order to believe and trust in the plans that He has for our lives. When we are overcome by our thoughts getting away with us, we simply need to learn how to beat our bodies/minds bringing them into our submission and control. It is when we lose control that we head off into the realm of “Stinking Thinking” and the only thing that “Stinking Thinking” does for us is put off an offensive odor to others revealing the old dead carcass that we are lugging around with us and have not yet buried.

Loving on you today,

Bren

WHEN DEPRESSION TRIES TO CONSUME YOU

I read a statement today that simple said, “Sick of crying, tired of trying, yes, I may be smiling, but inside, I am dying!”. That broke my heart, as I was reminded of my own past depression and how it can eat at you and eat at you, until it has eaten away your strength and you have no energy left to fight it; and yes, one can most defiantly feel that way, when depression tries to consume you.

I learned two things about depression in my own life as I struggled through it and found that with God all things truly are possible. The two things that I learned became instrumental tools in helping me to overcome it then and to fight off any depression and gloom that has come my way since. First I learned that depression is a physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional response to something that is wrong. Second was that the key to getting better, is to find out what that something is and work on it. There are no easy answers, but for the most part it is multifaceted and you must search for the triggers that send you into those gloomy moments that often times can turn into hours or even days. Whatever the cause, depression can be devastating and impacts our whole person, as well as those we love. Sometimes depression can cause a distrust in God that will even make the situation worse in respect to our faith. God never leaves us helpless and hopeless, but it will always be up to us to choose hope that brings us life. John 10:10 says that Jesus came that we “might have life, and might have it abundantly”. Depression is most certainly not, abundant living. Any time or anything that can take away our peace, the enemy is glad to help out and heap on us untruths and anxieties on the negative side of our situation.

 

By taking some time through prayer and the right kind of soul searching, you can decipher what your depression is trying to tell you. Once you learn what triggers your gloom and depression you can use those skills to recognize future bouts and more quickly identify the problem and make you less vulnerable to depressive episodes. For the most part, the word depression is a generic word that we use to describe how we feel when we are down in the dumps, under a lot of stress, sad or have been hurt. For most of us, we move through those bouts rather quickly because we are convinced that it will pass and we will change our direction and way that we view our sadness. But for many, especially those of a melancholy temperament like myself, we can tend to move slower and may even need extra help in getting through a rough time during those bouts. Depression can manifest itself in many ways. We can feel the effects of it in a physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual form. Each form causing different symptoms. The key is to know that we are not alone and that we must work through it and not soak in the sadness of that which we may not be able to change or control. Millions of people battle depression at some point and find that there is victory as they look ahead and stay out of the past.

 

When a person is born again, God takes up residence within them. He brings with Him the promise of a greater joy and peace than they have ever known. But they must choose to walk in it. Many people of faith have experienced periods of deep depression. Even the Bible tells us of some of them like Moses, David and so many others. These truths are worthy and meant to show us how God's love continues even during the sad times in our lives and that He will eventually bring great hope to those who place their hope and trust in Him. In the Garden, Jesus Himself grieved over the most horrific sadness that anyone could, nor would ever experience. Yet, His saddens was lifted when He said to the father, not My will but Yours be done.

 

Sometimes it is just a matter of moving through the sadness agreeing with God that while you may not understand it or want it, you will accept it in humility and long to learn from it. Hebrews 12 tells us to endure hardships as discipline. While our sadness may or may not have been brought on by our own actions, never the less, we are to view them according to verse 7 that way, and verse 11 tells us that no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on the scriptures says, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace by those who are trained by it. I think that we often look over the part about, “being trained by our hard times”. Hebrews 12:12-13 concludes with instructions to strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees, making level our paths, so that we may not be disabled, but healed. Somewhere in the instructions of verses 12 and 13 we fail to practice that which would help us tremendously in overcoming our sadness and depressions. May I encourage you today sweet friend to get your Bible out and sit down and study those verses, meditate on what God may be trying to reveal to you and call you out of and He will come to your rescue in due time, that is the first step.  The second step is to work on that which you may need to deal with. Your faith will lead you to God, but you must put your trust in Him and leave the details at His feet.

Loving on you today,

Bren

RESPONDING TO OFFENSES

As I have grown in my spiritual walk with Christ through the years, I have noticed some distinct changes in my life, my attitude and even in my responses to others as I have felt the painful hand of hurt and offense, touch my heart. When I choose the road less traveled and embrace the reality of my situations and think about them in terms of how God may be looking at them and not what my mind churns up about them, I am relieved from the pressure of having to have an answer concerning them. I am learning, that my only response in any matter, is to show the love of God and trust Him in things that I do not understand, knowing that in due time, He will reveal to me what I need to know and understand. Every offense against me, can be used as an opportunity to reflect the Character of the one that lives inside me, if I will only change my perspective.

One day a young nurse was complaining to her pastor that she had been offended by some patients, “Thank God for that” her preacher replied, in which the young woman said, “What do you mean by that, preacher?”, “Why, if you were carrying a vase and someone bumped into you, that which is inside the vase could possibly spill out on them”, he said, and “As we go through life and people bump into us, we have the opportunity to spill out the Lord Jesus on them” he concluded.

 

You see, we have the choice when we are offended to spill out anger, bitterness, jealousy and revenge, or broken and contrite hearts. This is how God’s Character inside His children spills out into the world. We may never be called to suffer an agonizing death for our faith. But any time that we quench the fleshly nature in us that is constantly warring to show it’s ugly face, by yielding to that which compels us to do the right thing, then we are denying the flesh it’s gratification of glory, thereby, bringing honor to the One who deserves it.  When we allow our perspective to reflect or mirror the embodiment of Christ in us, then any suffering that we may undergo will be worth it. Think of how the world would be, if we would walk more cautiously in trying to eliminate our critical attitude’s that repels others away from us ,when we respond to them in a wrong way, no matter what they have heaped on us. Proverbs 19:11 tells us that, “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.”  Godly wisdom helps us to have tolerance for the person who has offended us and gives us patience to find God’s plan to restore the situation. God always has a plan of restoration.  Sometimes we just need the patience to believe it will happen.

 

Will you today sweet friend, face your trial that you may be going through with an attitude of good cheer, humility and a godly patience with the one who has wronged you and above all else, have the faith that God will honor you by your seeing things from His perspective and not your fleshly way of responding to a bad event. Matthew 7:5 tells us to first, remove the beam from our own eye, then we can see clear enough to help remove our brother’s speck ….the part about removing my beam in order to see the situation clearly, gets me every time. I can only see clearly, when I remove that which is causing me not to see the situation clearly. Most of the time, we must detach ourselves from the initial or onset of our  offense and step back to see the situation more clearly. How you respond to your offenses will reflect the strength of your walk, in Jesus!

Loving on you today my friend,

Bren

TO HAVE A FAITH LIKE THAT

When was the last time that you share your Testimony of what God has done for you….(not just a simple “God has blessed me” kind of remark) but something that reflects your faith in the will of God no matter what the outcome was and only He can be glorified in it. Maybe, something has happened in your life that has blurred your spiritual vision and you think has hindered your faith. Have you been discouraged, disappointed in someone and somehow allowed God to become part of that equation? Maybe because of some disappointment in your life, you have used it as an excuse to walk away from God or God’s people because you have lowered your expectations of God so that you won’t be so disappointed the next time. Sweet friend, your doubting will continue to grow and take over your influence of God’s faithfulness to what you believe about Him and what you believe He has said, and if you are not careful at some point you will begin to murmur and complain and become your own stumbling block in overcoming your lack of faith and trust in the One that you once believed in and trusted. God never walks away, we are the ones that so quickly turn from Him, because we allow our disappointments to shadow over what God does and does not do for us when we should be saying to ourselves and others, “…Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this did not Job sin with his lips” Job 2:10. Our doubting God can turn to anger towards Him if not careful, and will eventually separate us from seeing the truth as it really is. If your faith can cast out your doubt, then what do you think that your doubt will cast out? Guard your faith and build it up by feeding it the Word of God, for it will be most useful to you during troublesome times that are sure to come! How is it that we can appear to have faith and yet unbelief in a situation. Often times we are not sure if that little bit of faith that we have is sufficient or not and feel like the man in Mark 9:24 when he told Jesus that he had faith, but He needed the Lord to help his unbelief. Sometimes, it is because we may know that God can do a thing, but we question if He will do it for us.

 

The fact that the father asked Jesus to help his unbelief, shows that while he knew that he had some faith, he wasn’t sure how much faith he had to have in his situation in order to get his son healed of demon possession. In desperation he casts any doubts or fears that he may have had upon Jesus and begged for mercy and help. Why did Jesus grant this man’s request? Did he not say that he had unbelief? The answer lies in the man’s own confession when he said that he believed. Jesus said in Mark 9:23 ”If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”. Jesus was not requiring some type of measurement of faith from the man, but simply, an "if thou wouldst believe" kind of faith.  We must recognize the power that Jesus offers and releases to us if and when we will simply, believe. Even the disciples wavered in their faith and the Lord rebuked them for it. They were not able to heal the young boy because of their own lack of faith. The light was not going off in their heads at that point that they, were trying to heal the boy in their own power and words.

 

That is the very reason that many of our own prayers are not answered, because we are praying within our own power over a situation with wrong motives. I hate to hear people tell other people something like, “you did not get your prayers answered because your faith was not strong enough”. I hate to disagree with them but, my Bible says there is only one kind of faith and that is the kind that you either have or you don’t have. The disciples learned this as well when one of them ask Jesus in Luke 17:5-6 “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Jesus never taught degrees of faith. On the contrary, Jesus taught that you either had faith or you didn’t. Jesus taught that the faith as a grain of mustard seed was more than sufficient to accomplish all that we might need or expect from God. It is fascinating to learn that the mustard seed is a tiny seed that produces one of the largest plants in the world. The black mustard plant in Israel grows to be over 12 feet tall. Jesus purposely chose to use the mustard seed as an illustration because of this very fact. Faith, no matter how small, will open the windows of Heaven and call forth the grace of God into our lives, if we will only surrender it in a child-like faith trust, that reaches out it's arms to Jesus and says, "Jesus, help me up where You are". To have a faith like that......

 

Loving you today sweet friend,

Bren