How's Your Spiritual Walking Going?

 

When I became a Christian, at first I did not know what “walking in the Spirit” meant. As a matter of fact, there were many things about my new spiritual life and future that I had no idea about. However, there was one thing that I knew for sure. I knew that whatever I now had, I did not have before, and that was the desire to know God better. As I began to study God’s word, the Bible became more clear to me, as I took my spiritual knife and began to cut into the Bread of life and break it off piece by piece, mentally ingesting it into my daily life.  Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh”. That verse is telling us not, to walk as our flesh dictates for us to, but rather to be controlled by God’s Spirit that dwells within the child of God. Once a person receives Christ into their hearts, their old ways of living ceases to exist and God gives them a new life to start over in. Yes, a person can begin again, start over. While they may have to deal with the consequences of their past sins form that point on, they can live in peace knowing that they have been forgiven. Once a person gets born again, they actually become a new person, a new creation. The old person that they were disappears and the new person is free to live, to love and obey God requires them to. That person now sees and knows that something has truly happened to them that they cannot explain, yet they know, that they know, they have been forgiven and made new; and because they know there is a difference from the old life to their new life, it simply urges them to live differently, having new desires that compel them to obedience to God.

 

If, a person does not experience a new change and they continue to live in the same state that they were in prior to asking Christ to forgive them and save them, the scripture describes them as being deceived. If there is no change, there must have been no real repentance. For true repentance brings change. Living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit are two different things. You cannot have Christ come into your life and have no heart change concerning sin. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit”. If one is in (lives) the Spirit, let him walk in therein. Like a new born baby learns to crawl and then walk, drink milk before they take on solid foods, so the child of God must follow that same process. Walking does not come automatically, it takes time and effort. But nevertheless, the true child of God craves the things of God and to do His will. As they seek God by learning about Him and obeying Him, they began to grow and walk in Him. Being saved allows a person the right to become the children of God. As they walk in the truth that is shown to them by and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit and the Word of God, their new spiritual inclination is to walk deeper and talk to him on a deeper level, and when that happens God is honored and walks with them. I John 2:6 says, “Whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” The Christian life is a life of progression, but once a believe understands that the new life they now live, is actually, a life that they no longer live, but a life the Christ lives in and through them, then they will understand what it really means to walk in the Spirit! How is your walking today sweet friend?

 

Loving on you today,

Bren

Is God Invisible To You?

I watched my granddaughter the other day as she took markers with invisible ink and colored a page of flowers in her coloring book. I smiled as the color appeared on the flowers out of thin air, or so it seemed. Of course the color was already on the page, but without the special liquid inside the markers, the colors on the flowers would not have shown up. That got me to thinking. Sometimes God is just like that. If we were honest with each other, we would all have to admit that there are times that God seems far away or invisible to us. Yet, He is really not.

More times than not, it is us, not God that moves away. In the scriptures, we are told that our sin is what separates us from God. When we are separated, we are not at peace with Him, nor do we feel His presence, and often times it is our pride in some form that keeps us from the sweet fellowship that He freely gives us. Psalm 138:6 tells us that “… the haughty he knows from afar.” Often times one of the primary reasons for God’s apparent “disappearance” to us, is our human pride. Pride repels and repulses God to be near us. For the lost, it will inevitably keep them separated from God eternally. For the saved, it breaks fellowship with Him. No matter how desperate we want Him in our lives, like the young man in Mark 10, “Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth”. What kept that young man from coming to Jesus? His pride. He was unwilling to surrender all that was his to have all that God would offer him.

 

The Lord will remain invisible to us as long as He sees within our hearts an elevated opinion of ourselves. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” God will allow us to bang our heads against the wall, experience the pain of life and do whatever it takes until we figure out that we really do need Him more than anything else in this life. I Peter 5:6 tells us to “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” When we do this, then just watch Him show up like never before. He is there, but to see Him, we must obey Him!

 

Loving on you today,

Bren

LET THE FIRE FALL

 

The purpose of desiring the fire of God in our lives allows God the freedom to refine and purify us from our old ways of thinking and being, into His likeness and image. In the purification of metals, fire is applied to separate the impurities from a substance. In the book of Malachi, God reveals that under the New Testament coming, people who would draw near him would be refined by fire Malachi 3:1-3. The difference from being changed by the power of God in our lives, than trying to change ourselves by our own power, is that God’s fire and power in us changes our very nature from self-consciousness to God-consciousness, whereby we are transformed into the very nature of God. God’s refining fire, removes whatever elements that affects our fleshly strength, durability, flexibility, consistency and our very integrity as well as the substance of who we are. The fire of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is to remove anything that is not consistent with the nature of Christ in us. That is conveyed by his word in our lives.

In an Old Testament story from 1 Kings, we are told about how God’s people had been led astray to entertain and fill their lives with everything evil and false. God used His prophet Elijah to reprove them, His purpose was to break up their fallow hearts and open their eyes. He challenged the false prophets to build an altar and sacrifice. They were to call on their god’s to come down and accept their sacrifice. They built their altar and all the people watched, but nothing happen. Then Elijah built his altar to God in front of all the people and cried out to God “…let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that you are the LORD God, and that you have turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, He is the God; the LORD, He is the God.” I Kings 18. When the fire came they instantly knew the truth of who the true God was. The fire of God turned their hearts and set them back on the right path toward Him. If will begin to consistently worship the Lord and meditate on all that He is,  then  we are overtaken by a power and strength not of our own; and we find that we are able to overcome those things that we have tried in the past to overcome but could not.  The fire of God in us will burn the desire for the ungodly out of us. This is how true purification and refining happens. It is not a mind over matter kind of thing. For mind over matter, somehow implies that our mind is strong enough to take control and master everything we put our mind to do. That is a lie! If we could overcome sin ourselves by using our minds, we would not need a Savior. Sure we can overcome a few bad habits on our own, if we discipline ourselves enough. But the nature of sin in us is very different, it has control over us and we need an intervention that empowers us to say no. That breaks that power over us and that means comes to us through the cross of Christ. (Continued next week)

 God’s word tells us that all have sinned and come short of God’s Glory. That is why is it so impossible in our own strength to quit doing or thinking about something that our flesh loves; but we know is not pleasing to God. You see our flesh loves sin and that is all that it knows to do, is sin, no matter how big or how small, sin is sin and our sinful nature craves and wills us to want to commit it in one way or another. Unless the flesh in us changes or dies, we will not be able to do that which God is calling us to do. We must inherit a repulsion or hate towards sin in order to overcome it. Psalms 97:10 says, You that love the LORD, hate evil: He preserves the souls of his saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.” Too many people try to mentally override their flesh to win their battles. It doesn’t take long to figure out the success rate of this way of thinking is very poor, to none. This is one reason people fall back into sin so quickly. The fire of God means divine empowerment to change that which we cannot on our own do. What is the answer to overcoming power? Having fire! Having a passion burn in your heart.

There are few things that put a real fire in our heart but when something does, it can consume us. This is true whether it’s a good passion or a bad passion. You often see this when two people fall in love. It’s like their passion changes many of their behaviors and they begin to think and live differently. Supernatural passion or fire comes only from and directed by God. It helps to burn out the evil and ungodly in the child of God. It comes when we realize we need God and His power in our life and want it more than the breath in our lungs. It comes when we make it the desire of our seeking and as we do, at just the right time we encounter a fresh renewal, a fresh reverence and awe of God that will soon create an intolerance for wrong doing renouncing every sin, reviving the spiritual slumber that we can often find ourselves in, if we are not daily waling in the Spirit of the Living God. Revival invigorates and sometimes deepens a believer's faith, opening his or her eyes to the truth in a fresh, new way. It always involves a fresh start with a clean slate, marking a new beginning of a life lived in obedience to God. Revival breaks the charm and power of the world, which blinds the eyes of God’s people, and generates both the will and power to live in the world, but not of the world. Unlike a person’s original conversion experience that brings about a new relationship to God, revival represents a restoration of fellowship with God, the relationship having been retained even though the believer had pulled away for a time. God’s fire on and in our lives revives us, because it is an extraordinary movement of God's Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results. May the God of revival deliver us from contentment with the ordinary sweet friend, while He stands ready to do the extraordinary for us!

Loving on you today,
Bren

WHO IS YOUR FATHER

In the early part of Jesus’ ministry, He often times got into debates with the religious leaders of His day. On one occasion He was talking with a group of militant devotees of the Rabbinic priesthood who maintained that because they were born of the seed of Abraham, they were automatically God’s children and God was their Father.  Yet, Jesus told them that they were not true children of God but of the devil. John 8:39-47 details His conversation with them. When you think of someone as a father, you usually picture an image of a kind, concerned and caring person who has the best interest of his children in mind. Satan however, is not that kind of father at all. He masquerades as an angel of light and will do whatever it may take to win someone’s favor or trust. But look out! His heart is black and evil, full of hate and bitter revenge against God and all mankind, especially those in the household of God. He is no normal father. He is an evil sadistic creature who imprisons his children in a slave camp with invisible chains, caring nothing for them because of his all-consuming hate for mankind and the God that created them. He only uses them for his purposes and then throws them to the junk pile to suffer the consequences for their actions when he is finished with them. His greatest worry is that mankind find out who he really is and that they come to the realization that they have been ransomed and their freedom paid by the one and only Son of God. Jesus’ comments to those religious leaders drove their holier than thou attitudes into a murderous fury. They sought every evil opportunity that they could to kill Jesus, in hopes that truth would not come to the world in the form that God had chosen; His only Son. There is ample evidence today, that the world has an evil system of thinking and acting which is subtly controlled by satan, to exclude the need for God in people’s lives. I John 5:19b says that, ”The whole world lies in the power of the evil one”. Most people will never know what control and influence the devil had over them. But, they will have, at some point and time in their life, when they are confronted by the truth of God’s Word to decide for themselves, whom they will serve. Joshua 24:15, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." 

 

Loving on you today,

Bren

THAT PAIN YOU ARE IN

 

 

My son in law had total spinal reconstructive surgery recently. He started off with a spinal curvature of 73 degrees and his doctors were able to correct it to less than 15 degrees. That is pretty amazing we are told. His surgery went great and in the words of our daughter, “God allowed that surgeon to do some amazing reconstructive things on Shannon's back, but man, did they do a lot to him”. They both knew going into the surgery that he would have to endure severe pain through the healing process and for the most part, they were prepared for it. His determination was and has been amazing. He was up walking 2 hours after his surgery and even the doctors were very pleased. Everything had been going pretty well, until several nights after his surgery when his pain became unbearable.  Earlier that day he had been given a blood transfusion that lasted 6 very long hours. His Hematocrit had gotten so low, he could hardly move at all. It was at that point that the doctor told Shannon that he had every right to be frustrated with his pain and that he could not imagine how he had managed it as long as he did and with such a great attitude. He also informed them that during surgery Shannon’s good shoulder was accidentally fractured when they had to use a chain to force his bad shoulder to match his good one. His doctor also told them that he reconstructed his chest cavity wall because all of his ribs were too close or touching in the front area of his chest. They removed four ribs and spaced them all out, by drilling holes and stutchuring them back. Brandy shared that they now see how God is using this whole season in their lives as opportunities to share Christ with people and what God has done for them!

 

While at first, they couldn't understand what God was allowing to happen to them, but they do now and it is very clear to them. “We have a story”, Brandy said, that must be shared! As I watched Shannon agonizing over his pain, pain that I could do nothing about, I was reminded that most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity, while the misplaced sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God refuses to do that. He comes to us with the strong grip of the precious nail pierced hand of His Son and says, “Come here and enter into fellowship with Me, arise and shine”. That is what I see Brandy and Shannon doing right now and pray that they continue to rise up and shine through their current painful situation. If God can accomplish His purposes through a broken back, then there is nothing else to do but be thankful?

 

While God does not always spare His children of pain, but so often uses it for a better cause in our lives as well as in the lives of others, we can be assured of this; that He never leaves nor forsakes His own and His seed never begs for bread! We are daily being called into a more intimate fellowship with Him. Why shouldn’t we experience the pain that we may be in at this time to drive us to Him. Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. You may have but one question to ask yourself today sweet friend. Is God’s purpose worth your pain? For if not, you will count it all loss as you ask, “where is God in the bitterness of broken romances, the anguish of jobs lost, the struggles of all the refugees in the world, the hunger of millions people all over the world?  Or, you may think that free will isn’t worth what it costs. But God wants you to understand this; that you have a choice to walk with Him or to walk away from Him. Our pain on any level is excruciating for God, yet many times He must restrain Himself to intervene in the way that we think He ought to, for He has a greater plan for that pain that we can even imagine. “In all their (Israel’s) distress he (God) too was distressed.” - Isaiah 63:9 Remember this, God is not absent in His silence in your life. Eventually if you continue to seek Him, you will find your answer or you will become content in His purpose for your pain, knowing that His ways are far greater than our own!

 

Loving on you sweet Friend,

Bren

WHEN THE TRUTH HURTS

Most people have a certain view of themselves that they like to maintain. So when someone points out a negative trait that does not accommodate their preconceived views of themselves, it makes them very uncomfortable. It’s kind of like the lady who was walking down the street to work and she saw a parrot on a perch in front of a pet store. The parrot said to her, "Hey lady, you are really ugly." As you can imagine, the lady was furious and she stormed past the store, to her work. On the way home that afternoon, she saw the same parrot and it said to her, "Hey lady, you are really ugly." Well, as you can imagine, she was incredibly angry and offended. The next day the same parrot again said to her, "Hey lady, you are really ugly. "The lady was so angry that she refused to be confronted by the rude parrot every time she would pass by it and went into the store and confronted the owner. She told the him that she would sue him and his store and kill the bird if the bird continued with his snide remarks. The store manager replied, "That's not good," and promised the parrot wouldn't say that again. When the lady walked past the store that afternoon after work, the parrot called out to her, "Hey lady!", she paused and looked straight at the parrot just daring him to repeat his rude remarks, and responded to him, "Yes? and the bird replied, "Yoooou know!”.

 

Sometimes truth confronts us with that which we do not want to know or think about. For example, it is true that someday we will all die. Yet most people accept that fact on a superficial level, but they may never really embraced the truth of that fact. Truth also hurts when it requires us to stop doing what we want to do, or requires us to start doing what we don't want to do. It cuts through excuses and requires us to do what is right or sacrifice our opinions for the sake of truth itself. Some avoid the choice altogether by blurring the line between what is true and what isn't. Our world has become so full of blurry lines that many people don't realize the reality  between truth and lies any longer. John 8:32 tells us that we can no truth, by knowing the author of all truth. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. Unlike the lady that was being confronted by the parrot, God’s Word is all Truth and can be trusted to tell us what we need to know about ourselves. Not to offend but to sanctify us through His truth. For His word is truth according to John 17:17. But remember, once it confronts us, we are never the same again.

Like the lady in the parrot joke, truth can be very painful, when it focuses on our own shortcomings and responsibilities instead of allowing us to focus on everyone else's. It emphasizes our own need to change and grow. In the midst of conflict, we like to believe that we are right, that we are innocent and that our suffering is the result of someone else's insensitivity or guilt. But truth causes us to see ourselves as naked and as helpless as we are. At times we are all sometimes wrong and sometimes guilt. Like the parrot, sometimes we use our emotions, words, and even our actions to hurt others. It is painful to see ourselves as we are; so much so that some people never do. Out of sight out of mind. It doesn't hurt, if you don't believe it. Jesus came, and still many were not prepared to receive his light. The darkness seemed to offer protection from the painful truth of their spiritual condition. But that "protection" was a prison of sorts. Like a straight jacket that couldn't be removed, it encased people in their own self-righteousness. That jacket of sorts, was like an armor that prevented them from being washed and clothed in God's righteousness. In a movie theater, lights come on softly and slowly when the film is over. But have you ever sat in a darkened room watching a movie or videos and when they're over, someone suddenly switches on the light? The natural impulse is to be irritated with the person who turned the switch on. It helps when we get some kind of warning before the lights come on to be prepared for when it happens. In that way, those that are sensitive to light can have time to partially cover their eyes for a moment to prepare for the light.

 

The same is true with our spiritual eyes. God, the source of all spiritual illumination, has called out to us again and again to prepare for the moment when He would switch on the spiritual light for us. John the Baptist urged people to turn from darkness and allow God to switch on their spiritual lights, to "repent for the kingdom of God was at hand. He gave warning as God always gives warning before He sends judgment. Many listened and responded. Those who heeded his announcement admitted they were in darkness, and turned from their wrong attitudes and actions in preparation to receive God’s light. When God shines truth in your heart and you reject it, be very careful, for He will not tarry with men always! Bend today under the mighty hand of God in your life and He will exalt you in due time! I Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time”.

 

Loving on you today sweet Friend,

Bren

CHARACTER vs. REPUTATION

As far back as I can remember, I have wanted to please folks and be accepted by them. Though we may go about it in different ways, we are all reaching out in some way to be accepted.  There is a drive in us, that pushes us to work at being accepted in one way or another. God is very aware that we are like this and encourages us through His Word, to be careful in how we reach out to attain that acceptance. Galatians 1:10 reminds us of this,  “For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.” You see, you and I must decide if it is the love and acceptance of people that we are striving for, or simply finding favor with God and in turn, He shows us favor with others. But never the less, without question it is His favor that we should be reflecting and that not of our own, if we bear the name of Christ as God’s children.

 

Throughout history, there have been countless numbers of scandals and in almost everyone, if not all of those situations, there was a key moment of decision when some type of allegation surfaced between someone’s character and their reputation. Ideally, each of us would like to have both. A strong character, and a good reputation. However, sometimes our circumstances may force us to choose one or the other.  If we choose our reputation, then we allow the most important issue to be, “how something may look or appear to others”, and we will immediately go into damage control and will take actions to limit any news getting out. This can easily lead to the, “it’s more about me than about the One that lives in me”. If we choose character, then our integrity will lead us to do the right thing and that alone speaks highly of our reputation. It is kind of like putting the cart before the horse if you choose your reputation over your character. Once you choose godly character first, that becomes your code in life and your good reputation will follow behind, and in the proper order. So it is always worthwhile to be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. Our reputation isn't what the crowd is saying like they did Saul and Paul: "Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands." That's not a real reputation. That's just flattery, current events of the moment. Rather, your intentions should be concerning your reputation, one of faithfulness, of a servant, of a pursuer of God.

 

You see, many of us want our reputations to change based upon our inclination or our statements. But it's very important for us to see these reputations has built through change in our lives. Ecclesiastes 7 says, "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth." Why would the day of our death be better than the day of our birth? It's because when you're born, you haven't done much. You messed your pants and threw milky spit up on people, big deal. But at your death, somebody has something to say about you. Don't you want your reputation to be that you walked with God? What is your reputation? The main requirement of a steward is that he be found faithful. 1 Samuel 18:30 says, "Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by." That's what brings glory to God. That's your reputation. We can see actions, we can see direction, we can see gifts, we can see resolve. But a reputation is consistently built over time. We're known by our doings, by our fruit. The apostle Paul made it very clear in Galatians, that he was not striving to please people, but God. You will have opportunities throughout your life to uphold both your reputation and your character. Sometimes you might have to choose one. May you always desire to please God and make the choice that honors Him.

 

Loving on you today!

Bren