MENTORING - Who's life are you personally affecting today for Christ?

The great Revivalist John Wesley had a General Rules for Methodist Fellowships that was released in 1743 and in it he stated, 'Watch over one another in love'. That was the key to his success in retaining those who were converted through one of the world’s greatest spiritual revivals. That key is called discipleship. The point is, that we are our brother’s keeper in some respect and the revived Christians of Wesley’s day understood that and had an innate understanding that they needed to care for one another, as did the early Christians of the New Testament. So basically what mentoring really is, is simply watching over one another because we love each other as Christ loves us. Most people seek out mentors to help them develop in some area of their life, that they feel need an extra hand in reaching the goals they have set for themselves, to maximize the grace of God in their lives. It requires a unique amount of trust on both the person who will mentor or disciple and the one who is being mentored or discipled. Finding the right person may take a few tries, but is well worth the effort once you do.
Mentoring or discipleship is taking place all around us and at all levels of industry, education, commerce and public life. Parents mentor their children. The journeyman mentors the apprentice and Coaches mentor their teams. Those who take their Christian discipleship and service seriously are seeing the value of having a mentor as a friend and adviser with whom they can share openly and to whom they can be accountable to. As the scripture instructs us, “Two are better than one” in Eccl. 4:9. Mentoring is a very significant role every Christian disciple can fulfill, irrespective of age or experience. It is not restricted to people who are giants in their faith, but as God’s Word tells us that all who are in Christ are to be disciples going into the world and declaring the gospel to all nations. That scripture does not stop at sharing salvation in Christ alone. It means to make disciples of Christ and that takes a little bit of time to do. The basic requirement of discipleship or being a Spiritual mentor is having a living, growing relationship with God and an ability to listen and respond sensitively, and to encourage. If this is true of you, you can be God’s agent in enriching another person’s life. All you need is to be available.
Women are natural mentors, because they usually find it easy to talk about deep issues with their friends. Even busy people can mentor if they make the choice to reach out and be a listening ear and be willing to provide a kind word of encouragement when needed. Folks that are housebound because of young families or a physical disability can mentor effectively by means of their phones, email or by inviting others to visit them, or simply send cards. Seniors who mentor often times find it very fulfilling as they are growing into their mature years and allows them to grow older as participants rather than spectators only! The bottom line is that we are all needy people and need someone to love on us.
I became a Christian in 1978 and started teaching a Youth Bible Study within 2 months after I was saved. I was so hungry for the Word of God in my life that I consumed it as much as I could. I enrolled in Bible College and soaked up as much as I could learn from my teachers/professors. I found within the pages of God’s Word the answers that I had been searching for all my life and felt a compulsion to share it with others and still do today. Throughout my adult life I have been blessed to have had contact with some great Christian influences that have helped disciple me along my way. I also have been allowed the great privilege of discipling a few folks myself and can personally testify to the life changing effects that good discipleship can have on someone’s life and walk in Christ. In thinking of you today sweet friend, I ask you this question, “Who’s life are you personally effecting today for Christ?”.
Maybe today, you need someone to affect your life for Christ. Either way, there must be discipling going on in you and around you if you are to be effective in your spiritual walk. Someone, needs you to take the time out of your busy schedule and show them how important they are to you and Jesus. Maybe you need to seek out a friend that will come along side you and help you grow and maximize the grace of God in your life. Do it today, don’t put it off! Make a difference!

Loving on you today,
Bren

WHEN YOUR DAUGHTER RETURNS

She is the apple of your eye. No matter how many other daughters you may have or what others may think or the judgment that she may bring on herself, because of her wrong choices, she still remains the apple of your eye, just as David was the apple of God’s eye, so your precious daughter is yours.

Today sweet friend, you may have a young daughter who is growing up and the world has a lot to say to her, and she is starting to listen. Even if she doesn’t know it right now, you know that she needs you more than ever. Redeem these days, for they are but vapors and they will disappear soon. What you pour into her life now, she will recall in the days as she is growing older and making adult choices. Some of the choices that she will make may very well be painful, but do not despair even when your heart tells you lies and blames you for her mistakes if and when she strays off course for a while. Stay true and faithful to her and God’s Word….for It never comes back void! It will accomplish, what it sets out to do. You will not have to fight hell or satan for her soul, Jesus has already taken care of that. What you must do however, is never, ever give up on her. For you, who are in Christ Jesus walk by faith (the substance of what you cannot see at the moment) not by your sight (what you see happening)!

 

Odds are that if your daughter is purposefully rejecting her upbringing in some form or fashion, then the way that she will spend her time will probably be heartbreaking and cause you disappointment in her. Nevertheless, find the value in her that Jesus sees and encourage her in humility and in love to the best of your ability. The Lord will take care of the rest. You just remember back to the days when you coached her T-ball team, went to her school plays, possibly homeschooled her and attended her soccer games when she was in High School, pouring your best into her life and know that there are still some things that you can do even now that she is in her twenties or maybe thirties, to show her that you are still wanting to invest into her life, because you care for her. To find those ways you need only to look to the scriptures where there, you will find what Jesus did as He spent time with many wayward people that He encountered even though He wasn’t even related to them, and imitate Him by being the kind of parent who will love her and let God be her judge and the Holy Spirit convict her heart, drawing her back to Him. Encourage her and never stop praying that one day as God fallows her heart and makes it tender, to receive His word through your love, that she will begin to seek God’s glory instead her own. When you read something in the scriptures that encourages you and helps you in a situation, pass it on to her. Write it down and send it to her. The best exhortation that you can give her is sharing positive examples of Christ’s joy in your own life. Don’t stress out and doubt yourself when you are trying to get the word of God into her heart, because each one of them is singularly powerful if given in your own brokenness. Just send them out one after another, and let the cumulative effect of your satisfaction and worship in God gather up in her inbox awaiting her to open and find them. God’s word is never proclaimed in vain, nor does it return void.

Remember, the real problem is that she does not see Jesus clearly, therefore you must help her see Him by living the kind of life that He would have you live and by doing so, will show her Christ. It is not a simple or immediate process, but the sins in her life that distress you and want to destroy her will only begin to fade away when they see Jesus as He actually is. For every unbelieving or wayward child, the details will be different. Each one will require parents to reach out in unique ways. What is not acceptable, however, is not reaching out to them at all. Because, the deepest concern is not your child’s actions and how she is living, but her heart condition! So don’t expect her to fall in love with God’s laws as a requirement for repentance and restoration. She must first see her sin as God sees her sin and then only will she be able to understand why God ask of her what He will.  If she has any inkling at all to be with you, it is God giving you a chance to love her back to Jesus. Treat her in a way that makes this clear. She probably knows, especially if she was raised in a Christian home, that what she’s doing is wrong and her conscience will lead her to God in the time that it will take. So never give her a timeline to come to Christ. That shall be between her and Christ; for she definitely knows how you feel and think about those things and doesn’t need them pointed out to her every time you speak with her. She needs to see how you are going to react to her evil. Your gentle forbearance and sorrowful hope will show her that you really do trust Jesus to bring her to repentance. Her conscience can condemn her by itself, it needs no other help. Mom and Dad ought only to stand kindly and firmly, always living in the hope that their wayward child is on their way home. Then like the prodigal father in the Bible, when your daughter returns, there will be time for rejoicing and partying.

Loving on you today,

Bren

YOUR EGO IS NOT YOUR AMIGO

satan will offer your ego the world. he will tell you and tempt you to desire the things of this world that is sure to have no eternal value or importance. He will even lead you to neglect friends and family in order to get them; and when you do, he will be there to whisper in your ear after you have been forsaken by them, that you are worthless and unloved and assure you that you will never achieve your heart’s desire unless you do things the way that he will deceive you to do them. he is great at telling you on a day that you need encouragement the most, that you are not good enough, nor perfect or beautiful enough, and he loves to cuddle with you in the lap of leisure, leading you away from hearing the truth, by saying things like "oh you owe it to yourself", "look how hard you work and all that you do", "you can worship God anywhere, any place", you don't have to spend your off time in some church somewhere, with a bunch of hypocrites, God understands", "Besides, you’re not half as bad as most of them are!" “Forget them, you and God have your own thing going” he will say to you. You see satan does most of his speaking to you through your low self-esteem or through your ego. That is why you cannot trust it!  Because no matter what you may think of yourself, your ego is not your amigo. Your ego is simply a false image of who you really are. It is a mask that thrives on approval wanting control and sustained by some type of power source, but it lives in fear of, reality. It is happing to folks all around us. We all experience it and that is why we can see it in others. People trying to project an image of someone that they want others to think they are, in hopes to win their friendship and give them the respect that they long to have.

Sweet friend, can I tell you something from my own experience about God? You can try everything and every wrong way, of fulfilling your desires by getting more of what you believe the abundant life is and offers you. You can subscribe to every notable magazine, website, blogs and even Facebook, where there are plenty of so called friends that will stroke your ego and say what you want to hear, and for a while, it will alleviate your guilt, only to return with a God-given purpose to stir you away from those wrong choices in your ungodly lifestyle. There is an abundance of information and friends that will help satan to build your fleshly ego and for a while, tell you how awesome you are. But, I can promise you this, that your peace and happiness will be short lived if those are the places that you are getting your ego stroked and seeking your guidance from.  For eventually, in the desert of your soul, surrounded by all the abundance of the world, at some point you will discover, that the things that you are seeking are things that are rooted in your flesh; and there is no good thing that comes from your flesh. When you downsize your life to where you can see clearly that your desires are misplaced and need to be divine desires and not worldly desires, you will find a spiritual shift that reveals a great truth to you; and that truth is knowing that Jesus is sufficient because He alone is enough. That in Him, is all that your heart seeks. satan tempted Eve in the garden by saying to her the same thing that he is saying to you, “surely God does not mean that you will surely die if you disobey and not listen to Him”. You, like Eve must decide what voice you will listen to, what source you will rely on as you seek God in your life. Even though you may not know it; it is God that you are seeking in everything that you are doing to find and have happiness in your life. It is God that you seek, ultimately!

 

Not everyone will head godly advice. However, they will be forced in eternity and confronted with what they did with the Truth that God had sent their way, to lead them to Him. But because of their own inclinations they chose to see God or even ignore God in their own way, on their own terms, they will find sooner or later, that their sin or what they call “a fun lifestyle” will only last for a season, then they will be held accountable for it. Romans 12:2  tell us "… do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The only way that you will ever be able to see things God way and understand why He ask the things that He ask of you, is to renew your mind by knowing what God has to say about something in His word. He is not so far that He cannot redeem you out of what you are in right now, nor is His Son not eager to forgive and restore you to a place that you were created to be. They are waiting, your sin debts have been paid, go!                            

Loving on you today,

Bren
 

 

WORTHY TO REPEAT

I love a good “Quote”, and as I run across them, I oftentimes will write them down or jot them down in my phone! They can be a little bite-size chunk of wisdom, or a gentle decadent breeze from an unknown wind. Sometimes they provide me a glimpse, into the mind of a real genius. But, most times they plant a simple thought or seed of an idea that will prompt me to consider something of importance in my life, that I may have overlooked elsewhere. They also help me to extend my vision and even re-invent myself, in how I view the world around me. But more times than not, I will run across a quote, that becomes therapeutic to me, as they become a miniature story or even a reminder from God, concerning a work that He may be doing in my life. Often times, little quotes and sayings will help to alleviate the worries and stresses that tend to accumulate in my heart and mind. I even love the fact that the scriptures are broken down into small verses to help me easily recall and remember the Words of the Living God, that I love. It must be grand to come up with such profound statements, that jar the mind to stop and give thought, to consider, concerning something. Since my early days of learning to write a complete sentence, I have piddled around with writing songs, poetry, stories, news’s paper articles, Bible Studies, devotions and other things. Yet, it is the smallest of quotes with the biggest impact or punch, that I love the most, yet I have the hardest time myself, condensing my own words into. So whenever I run across a statement that attracts my attention, and causes me to pause, I know that it is worthy enough to repeat and pass along to others. Today, I want to share a few of them.

Loving on you today,
Bren
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Labor to grow better under all your afflictions, lest your afflictions grow worse, lest God mingle them with more darkness, bitterness and terror. John Owen

God sweetens outward pain with inward peace. Thomas Watson

Not to be afflicted is a sign of weakness; for, therefore God imposed no more on me, because he sees I can bear no more. Joseph Hall

When we grow careless of keeping our souls, then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses. Richard Sibbes

The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory. Richard Sibbes

“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.” John Steinbeck

Before you talk, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.” Ernest Hemingway

HAVE YOU CROSSED THE LINE?

If we like the prophet Hosea would experience our pain similar to what God experiences His pain, we would be much quicker to turn back when we sin. Life for the person who turns their back on God is often characterized by guilt and dissatisfaction. But the true born again believer who has been living in a lifestyle of backsliding in sin, knows deep down that their spiritual unfaithfulness will ultimately take its toll and they are simply buying their time, enjoying their sin for a season. The prophet Hosea well understood the pain and heartache of backsliding. But he also knew of the grace and mercy of being restored from such a place for those who would seek it, for he wrote in Hosea 14:4  “I (God) will heal their backsliding.” God’s people had continued to backslide and hurt God. In order for the man that God had choose to mediate His message to his people, his bizarre task would be to take to himself a wayward wife that would be an unfaithful spouse. Which in turn, brought Hosea similar pain to what God was feeling towards an unfaithful Israel. Hosea made it clear in the last chapters of his book that despite the pain that God’s people had caused Him, He still promised healing, forgiveness and fruitfulness if they would return to Him. ”I will heal their backsliding.” He said, “I will love them freely…those who dwell under His shadow shall return”. Hosea 14:4-7.

Restoration waits for us, when we seek it with remorse and brokenness. God did not leave Israel His treasured people, in exile, alone. The prophet Ezekiel tells us that God made Himself to be a sanctuary and refuge for His people as they were suffering from the consequences of their wrong choices. When life is falling apart around you because of wrong choices; realize that sin always cuts you off from the very strength and provision you may need to get your through your troubled times. God’s people were sent into a foreign and wayward country because of their sin. The prodigal son in the New Testament sinned, as he decided in his heart that he was going to leave the presence of his father to seek the wayward life in the foreign country. How deeply the parallel runs between those two. Remember this, that our sin will always lead us to a foreign place away from God. Yet, God is never so far that He will not hear a broken and contrite heart, ready to repent and be restore into His presence; where God Himself removes the old heart of stone that was vile and detestable towards Him and replaces it with a heart of flesh that longs to follow after Him in obedience. Ezekiel 11:16-20 As the God of mercy and grace offered Israel forgiveness and restoration, even so today He offers you and I, and all who truly are repentant if we would be broken and willing to change I John 1:9. Do you feel like you have crossed a line with God? Have you been making spiritually poor choices lately sweet friend that have caused you to slip away from the Lord into the back country far away from God? It’s not too late to make a fresh start! Turn to Jesus the One who died to bring you out!

Loving on you today,

Bren

LIVING WITH REGRETS

Regrets come in a long list and while they are not always the case, they are often times the result of sin in our life. Maybe you have been divorced or have had to file for bankruptcy because you mismanaged your resources out of fleshly decisions or no longer speak to your children or a family member because of an unresolved dispute. If this is the case, it is almost assuredly the result of some wrong choice made by someone sowing a seed of sin.  Maybe it is not even your sin but the sin of someone that has left you with regrets.  We must acknowledge that this is a fallen world and we all mess up all the time.  Romans 3:10 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one."  This verse is one of many that shows us that we all mess up from time to time.  Even when we try in our best efforts to do good, we fall short and cannot always achieve in doing so. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 7 where he seems to have a discussion with himself and seems frustrated with the fact that even when he tried to do the right or good thing, he simply failed to do it.  We all fall short, all the time.  And because we often times fall short, we will face difficult consequences from those short comings.  There is a penalty for our sin.  Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Death does not have to be the end. God not only gives eternal life, but He gives us abundant life as we are obeying Him.

What those verses in Romans show us is that we are simply all messed up; fallen created beings.  Because we fall short, we will have hard times in this life and often regrets from those shortcomings.  We handle our regrets by doing what God tells us to do in the scriptures.  One place to find answers and comfort is found in the book of Psalms.  Those 150 chapters are filled with broken and contrite hearts crying out to God with often times laments and asking God for His help.  The writers of Scripture do not try to cover up or act like they have it all together, but simply cry out to God for help in their personal lives, letting the chips fall where they may.  Looking to the Psalms gives us the reassurance that what God did for David, He will do for us as we work through our problems or regrets staying humble, obedient and open minded to the will of God in our lives.  Inquire of the Lord for yourself. For he is not so far, that He will not hear the prayer of His saints when they cry out to Him in brokenness. Psalm 4:1 says, "Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God, Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer." We may not know the exact circumstances of this Psalm but the principle is clear.  We have a God who hears our every prayer.  We have a God that is righteous and cares about our every care and distress.  We have a God who shows us mercy even when we don't deserve it.  The rest of that Psalm reveals how God is patient with us, even when we stray and run after things other than Him.

The God of the Bible is the one true God that loves us and cares for our every care and hurt.  He does not delight in seeing us go through hardship or pain but often times, that is where we grow in Him.  We often grow spiritually through hardships and trials  according to James Chapter 1.  We must learn how to live each moment reliant fully on God alone.  We should model our prayers and our life like the writers of Scripture as they are not afraid to tell God what is on their hearts, nor tell of the great mistakes that they have made. God can handle our thoughts and our prayers, He is bigger than we can conceive.  For we all will have things happen in our life that we wish were different, that is why they are called regrets.  But those regrets should never be allowed to control us or keep us bound by their sinful power.  Nor should we allow our regrets to smother our Christian witness. In one of the memorable stories that Jesus told  shortly before He was to be betrayed and crucified, Jesus told His disciples that all of the 12 disciples would fall away and deny him. Peter strongly opposed Jesus and tried to correct Him by saying "even if all the others fall away, I won't".  Jesus told Peter that he, would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed and of course it happened just as Jesus had said. Do you think that Peter regretted this?  Absolutely, he did!  However, after Jesus restored Peter on the beach shore in John 21, he was able to move on and continue to serve the Lord. As a matter of fact, it was after Peter had been restored that he serve the Lord in a greater way than ever before.  While Peter never forgot his sin of denial he chose not to dwell on it and be defeated by it. He realized that the only way that he could move forward was to allow God's forgiveness to be his covering for his wrongdoing. Like Peter, we may never forget our own personal regrets in life, but how we respond to them will be the determining factor of the victory that we receive. We should all come to a similar realization that the life that God wants for us is not a life filled with dwelling on our regrets and sin but by living a victorious life.  The God that we serve has power over sin and death and He is the One that will day by day give us victory over them as well.  Today, pray to God like the writers of the Psalms and allow Him to lift the burden that you need taken away and give Him the glory for great thing he has done. Praise Him til the hurt goes away!

Loving on you today,

Bren

THE REGRET OF NOT ENDURING SOUND DOCTRINE

When I was a young girl my Mother sacrificed her hard earned money for me to take piano lessons. I wanted to play the piano more than anything in the world. So I thought. Being hard headed and lazy, practicing every day became too routine for me and having somewhat of an ear for music, I found that I could play cords on the piano and gave up those boring lessons. The sad fact was that I never learned to play correctly and it cost me never learning to read music. I must say that I have had much regret over the years in giving up, because there have been many, many times that God could have used that talent in my life, had I made more effort and took advantage of the opportunity that my Mother provided me and learned how to play properly. If only I had endured and not give up! Oh the regret of falling short of that opportunity!

Thinking on that past regret in my life, put me in mind of another regret. The regret that many people will have in their lives by not enduring sound doctrine.  The word for Endure in the Greek is, “anechomai” it means to hold oneself up against, to put up with, bear with, endure, forbear, or to suffer. In I Timothy 4:3 God’s Word warns us of those that will not endure the preaching, teaching, correction and exhortation of sound doctrine in the last days. That in the last days people would no longer be willing to tolerate or put up with straight Bible teaching as they did in the former days. Like my giving up piano lessons because the effort it took me to endure until I had learned, there will be many people who will listen to the hearing of the gospel and some even trying it out for a while, but when hardships, convictions, discipline and trials come, they will not endure and will fall away.  While it is hard sometimes to hear the truth, it is not always pleasing to us. It often times goes far against our fleshly grain and causes conviction that produces in us a shame that is meant to lead us to repentance and oftentimes, causes us discomfort in one way or another. However, the reward to those that will stick with it and endure the rebuke of godly teaching  where sound doctrine is being taught, regardless of how it makes them feel in their flesh will reap a crown of victory and enjoy knowing the peace of God in their lives as they endure until the end. For they know that through the teaching of sound doctrine, they are being spiritually edified and are not offended by it. For they know that it is for their good. To those that would declare that preaching should always be motivational and uplifting and not necessarily doctrinal or reproving, I would say to them the same thing that I said to my children when raising them and now to my grandchildren, do the right thing and you will not have to endure the hardships of correction and discipline and when other hardships come, you will be able to stand your ground and not sink in the many potholes that are under foot. Knowing truth alone does not bring peace or set you free. It is obeying truth, that produces the fruit of peace in our lives and it is that fruit of truth, that sets us free.  However, Paul did not say that in the last days people would listen to truth or they would not accept truth, he said, that they would not endure it. That means that, they would not keep on obeying it. Instead Paul chose a word that indicated the truth of sound doctrine being something that requires us to, “hold oneself up against, to put up with, bear with, endure, forbear, suffer through." Oftentimes God’s Word hurts us to the very core of our being and convicts us even to the depths of our hearts, and thank God for it. Thank God that we have the opportunity to hear the message of Salvation and instructions to a better way of living. Let us be faithful in enduring sound doctrine because, it is for our good and benefits us in an everlasting way.

There are many things in life that can be difficult to endure. However, in the last days the Bible tells us that many will not be able to endure the truth that is within the pages of the Holy Scriptures. Today’s modern Christianity is marked by an inability, to handle sound Bible doctrine. The Bible is a difficult book to read; not because of hard words, but because of the truth it contains. The Bible is a sword and it will cut on our wicked hearts through both personal Bible study or hearing the Word of God preached or taught.  Many are departing from the faith today than ever before and in their apostasy have demonstrated that they could not endure sound doctrine and are heaping to themselves teachers that are introducing new doctrinal institutions in this age that pats them on the head and tells them that they are good and everything will be alright.  The marks which identify and distinguish these modern apostates are men and women who are taking truth and mixing it with just the amount of lies that it will take to win people over to a new way of thinking. Adhering to the Scriptures, as our only standard and rule of faith and practice is our only hope. For the true believer, our refusal to depart from the Bible as our standard of morality and faith, which provides us with a clear plumb line for reforming society, reclaiming drunkards, converting sinners, and evangelizing the world is a task that we must endure not only for our own sake but for the sake of the lost who need the message of salvation in its rawest form, whether it offends people or not. In doing so, we may have to pay the price and be labeled as Hard-shells, Iron Jackets, Jesus Freaks and an opulence of other  titles indicative of anything, but a willingness to turn away from what we hold to be the truth, and not be allured by old fables and myths. I fear, that many more than we comprehend amongst the fellowship of true believers today are not of the true fold of Christ. I John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us”. After Jesus had preached his parable concerning the wheat and the tare, his disciples ask him to break it down to their level of understanding and in doing so Jesus said, “ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters to, first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ Matthew 13:24-30. Jesus Himself was always making comments distinguishing people between those who are a part of His Kingdom and those who are not. God’s final judgment will be the ultimate turning point of separation between the true child of God and the one who claims but has no legitimate birth certificate, for their names are not found in the book of life.

Saint Augustine pointed out that there is an invisible distinction between the “wheat” and the “tares” and that they run through the church and it’s laity although they may not always be readily apparent.  It is not the job of the child of God to try and separate the sheep from the goat, for in many ways they favor, not just because the Church is acting like the world, but many of those that are in the world are acting like the church in some form or another. It is however, the job of the true sheep to love and plead sinners to come to Christ and help to restore and bring back those that have strayed, while there is still time. My regret of not learning to read music, does not compare to the regret of those who will stand before the great white throne judgment of God and say, “look what I have done in your name” and in sad response will be turned away and told, “depart from me, ye worker of inequity, for I never knew you”. For you see, they through their own demise very clearly demonstrated that they did not endure sound doctrine, not only because they did not finish the race that they may had started, but on account of not holding on to the sound doctrine that they had been taught, but instead, they heaped to themselves teachers that led them astray by words that satisfied their itching ears and made them feel good but never shed light on their sin and their need for repentance.

As Adrian Rogers would say, “…Salvation is not a cafeteria line where we say, “Well, I believe I’ll have a little Savior today, but no Lordship…” God demands Lordship and will accept nothing less than reigning on the thrones of our hearts. The scriptures themselves bears witness that, “There is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 16:25. Today sweet friend find God's Truth and cling to it with all your might! 

Loving on You today,

Bren