Your ONE Purpose

Today I am going to talk to you about purpose. But first, I need you to do something. Go ahead and let all of the pre-existing, run of the mill, Jeremiah 29:11thoughts and ideas about purpose fill a bucket in your mind. 

"Purpose is for the elite." "I know God has a purpose for me, I'm okay." ...eye rolls... ...sighs... Put is all in the bucket. Now, pick up that bucket, take it out back and dump it out! give it a good shake, make sure it's empty.

Is your bucket completely empty? Good! Now I need you to place that bucket somewhere safe, accessible, but safe. You need to be able to reach this bucket so you can fill it, but you need to be able to guard this bucket so nothing tainted and mundane is able to sneak in there again. 

Now, let's visit some scripture. We are going to jump through the first three chapters of the Bible, highlighting key points. So sit up, buckle up and lets get moving. :)

"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being... 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the middle of the garden to work it and take care of it." Then God created woman, when no suitable helper was found. - Genesis 2:7, 15-16, 20-23

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. - Genesis 1:1, 27-31

And now we fast forward to The Fall. 16 "To the woman he said, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 17 To Adam he said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you , 'You must not eat of it,' Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." - Genesis 3:16-19

Whew! That was a lot!! Okay, now let us start chewing this up so we can absorb it and fully digest it! These excerpts are the words that God spoke to us. When God speaks things happen so it is good for us to pay attention and understand.

Let's work backwards through this scripture. The last portion of this is the curse God had to give as a result of sin entering this world.

*Death: up until this point, death hasn't even been mentioned. This may be a revelation for some of you, but life isn't the curse, death is.               Let that soak in.

Later in Bible God shortens our life span, because we are too evil to live too long. How sad is that? Imagine yourself in God's shoes. Do you have a child or children? Have you ever given them ONE rule? All they have to do, or not do, is ONE THING. Then they don't listen and you have to punish them. Then, when you're punishing them, they have a melt down. They start freaking out! Depending on the age of your child, this rebellion can last for a few minutes or a few days, or a few weeks, and so on. You have to continue to punish, limit and restrict them during that time. All the while, you're begging them, 'Listen, Please just listen to me and choose to come back and obey these rules and we can move on with our life.'
That's exactly what happened here. The initial punishment: Death. Later in scripture, because of our fit throwing and rebellion He has to shorten or lives to a fraction of the time because we're too wicked. Death is definitely a curse. Satan, the one who started all of this, is making the gift look like the curse. Go figure. {insert eye roll}

*Work to Survive: If this doesn't resonate with you then please, adopt all of us! This is the point where the Lord had to inform us that the consequences were going to affect us for a while. We now will toil [work hard] just to survive. Today, thousands of years later, we still have to work hard to make a dollar. The dollar isn't the goal, it's the food and shelter, and everything that the dollar buys. Our work, is not our purpose. Yes, God uses what we do, our gifts, our talents, our abilities, the people we're around and every little thing to glorify Him and show His love to us and to others. But working is not what we were created for.

*Desire Your Husband: Depending on what your marriage looks like, or what your intimate relationships have looked like, this can set on one extreme or the other, or maybe somewhere in the middle. The bottom line is that the entrance of sin created an opportunity for that to become a hurtful thing.

*Painful Birthing: Giving birth was not meant to be sorrowful and hurtful, but a joyous thing, a celebration. Thank you sin for making this one of the most excruciating pains ever. Luckily, in this day in age, when it comes to child birthing we have things that make this pain less or not there at all so it is once again only joy. This is applicable to birthing dreams, purposes... God things. There is pain in the birthing process. Sin wants you to give up and not push through. If you can get through that part, your pain is turned to joy! - Child rearing and dream rearing comes with difficulties, but you still push through! The celebrations that help carry us through the pain. The promises of joy and purpose, the promises of fruit that give us the gumption to keep going. Because, after all isn't "being fruitful the first blessing from God?

Let's go back to chapter one. In these verses of scripture we see God's first words to us, his sons and daughters. The ones who he created IN HIS IMAGE!

*Be fruitful

*Multiply, increase in numbers

*Fill the earth
These first three things should fill us with joy and excitement! Have you ever done something well and had someone ask you to do it again? Or maybe your children did something cute and you asked them to do it again. It's because what they did or what you did was good, it gave a gift of joy or love or something that was pleasing. We want more good in our life. We are proud when those we love do well and we want them to more and have more of that good. It's the same thing with God. He saw us as good, and he told us to go and do more good, go and create more good. That's exciting!

Let those words fill your bucket. Your purpose bucket, let those words fill it! You are good! Multiply and increase that good. Share that good. Do more of that good. I want more of you.

*Subdue the earth

*Rule
Have you ever left your kids alone and left one of them "in charge"? Or maybe you and your siblings were left alone and someone was left "in charge". My children aren't old enough to use them as an example so I'm using me. I am the oldest of three girls. One is only twenty-two months younger and the other is five years younger. So when we were home alone I was the one left in charge. I. was IN. CHARGE. {head nodding, lips pressed together, hands on hip, toe tapping.} Yup. There was a demeanor that came over me. My sisters couldn't do anything about it. I was the boss. end of story.

This is God giving that to you. Setting you in charge. Giving you permission. Go rule. God is telling you that what you have is good, He wants more of it, and that you have been given the authority to go out and make it happen. So no matter what he has gifted you with, let that demeanor, that confidence fill your purpose bucket. Go with authority and live it.

*I give you...EVERYTHING

He says I give you everything!! Do you understand that God spoke and it happened. God said, and so it was. While we may be tempted to just wonder on past these words, God is awakening our souls to receive them. Your purpose is the same that God gave to Adam, and created Eve to help him with; "The Lord God took the man and put him in the middle of the garden to work it and take care of it." (Gen.2:15) Your garden may be a variety of things. It may be on a stage in front of thousands of people, or it may not. It may be at home with your husband and your children. It may be in a school, a work place, a building. Wherever your garden is, your purpose is the same; work it and take care of it. Love it. Grow it. Let your garden glorify God. A garden full of weeds, brings no one glory, but a beautiful garden takes work and stewardship. The purpose of your garden is to praise God.

So imagine your garden. What does it look like now? Has it been grown with the tools of the curse, from a bucket of mediocre purpose? Or has it been grown with the tools that God gave us when He spoke His blessing over us? Multiply. Be fruitful. Rule.

In Ephesians 3:20 we are told that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you can ask think or imagine. Imagine your garden going abundantly! Imagine you, taking hold of your ONE purpose, to shine a light of love and praise on God. Take that purpose, your bucket of blessings, new understanding, and go to your garden. Then get to work, in the name of Jesus!

~Awaken us~
Brenna Stanford

An Overflow of Thankfulness and the Faith to Move Mountntains

"Overflow with thankfulness" , "faith" , these words Christians hear often. We hear them so much because we are in constant need to have an overflow of thankfulness. We have a constant need to have a faith that believes that God is working out great things, even though we can't see them.

Being thankful opens our hearts and spirits to receive from the Lord. Have you ever had a relationship with an unthankful person? It shuts you off from wanting to give to them, but it also shuts them off from accepting what you have to give. It works the same way with our relationship with the Lord. He is the perfect giver and He is so excited to give us abundantly more than all we can ask, think or imagine. But it is in our gratitude for the goodness that He has already done that we can imagine all the goodness that He still has to give! If the only thing you have to be thankful for is your salvation, then you have enough to praise Him for eternity!!

My father in law has been a pastor for 30 years, and he recently shared a story about an older man in his congregation. Everyday when my father in law would shake hands with that man he would ask him how he was doing. That man's response was consistent, "I'm drinking from the saucer!" One day my father in law asked him what he meant. His response showed how wonderful his understanding of the Lord is. He said, "God fills us until we run over, so I'm just drinking from the saucer!" We should all be drinking from the saucer.

And faith, oh sweet faith!! If you were to ask, most Christians would say that the opposite of faith is fear or doubt. But a very dear friend "spirit slapped" me one day. She asked me what the opposite of faith is and just like any Pharisee would say, I sarcastically and mockingly said doubt. She said no and I was taken back! What is the opposite of faith?! --> Having a plan. <-- 😳👊🏻 I know right?!

Here's the deal, God has THE plan so we don't need A plan. Yes, we prayerfully work to follow His lead. That's because His lead is ALWAYS deeper into His heart. ❤️ In that following, He makes a way that we never could have imagined!! So we keep our hands off, we stop trying to control what happens, and we thankfully take each and every step that God leads us in.

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭11:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

"Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth that you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." Colossians 2:7 NIV

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for reminders and little nuggets of confirmation that you give us along the way. You work ALL THINGS out for the good of those who love you. So let us not grow weary in trying to figure out the plan. Help us to take our hands off because you are more than able to exceed every plan we could think up! Help us to hunger and thirst for more of you! As we dive into your word, show us a new side of who you are. Show us a new way in which we need you! Awaken us to travel the journey deeper into your heart. Awaken us to become increasingly aware of your goodness and your provision! Let us dream big, abundant dreams, and believe you for exceeding them all! Let us remain thankful through the whole journey!!

- In Jesus holy name, amen!!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Young Living Member # 2645436

Oil for today: Envision

This essential oil blend was formulated to stimulate feelings of creativity and resourcefulness, encouraging renewed faith in the future and the strength necessary to achieve your dreams.

A Beautiful Song is Being Sung, Go Dance!

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I came back and thanked you all for your grace? You all have walked with me through seasons and some of which were "dry" seasons when it comes to blogging. Well I told you then that instead of retreating during seasons that I would dive in and bear my heart. So here you go. :)

 I, being the human I am, failed. I continue to try to live on yesterday's mana. I let my mind wander to what others have and what I am lacking. I stopped noticing the things I am thankful for and stopped looking for the good in my life. I only noticed what wasn't.

This was the foothold I let Satan have. As soon as I gave him an inch, he tool a mile, and then another. He was making his way to my heart and consuming my mind.

I had burning tears sting my face, thinking; NO! This isn't it. This is NOT what I'm going to live in. I felt this when I was younger, misery {there's nothing more in this world, hopelessness}. I cannot live this again!

The interesting thing is that NOTHING in my life changed. There wasn't anything that happened that "ruined" my life. I was living in the same blessings that God had given me, but I was only seeing what wasn't. I chose to allow one negative thought to snowball into a mind consuming battle.

All the while God was there, my best friend, quietly reminding me that he has already won this war. This chaos in my mind, he already quieted it, but I have to choose where I am going to stand; in the chaos or in the peace.

At this the devil yelled! I chose God already. What I am living in is because of others. "They" made me this way, "they" did this! Oh, his yell roared! My rock was strong, but when their sand swirled, it effected my foundation. I should be mad!

And my friend, still quiet, full of peace, kept calling me. His voice so tender and sincere, carrying a melody that my heart longed to dance to. One that was familiar, yet new.

So, we danced. We danced to a song of humility. Because, while meekness can seem so humiliating in the definition we know, there is nothing more empowering. The ones around me, who see the very worst of me will either see a savior who loves like uno other, or a crazy woman.

Nothing about this journey makes sense. I am learning to be okay with that. My challenge, and maybe yours too, is to not try to plan and put together an entire puzzle with only one piece. My dance, the song He is singing over me, is to live each moment with new mana, enjoying all the qualities of that puzzle piece. I am to praise Him with a thankful heart, laying down all of my weakness as well as all of my dreams. My dance is to enjoy with full gladness everything I have and everything I lack, knowing that He is constantly singing over me.

Today, I pray that you find peace. May my weakness show off God's strength! Let Him strengthen you too!

Father, my best friend, thank you for singing such a beautiful song over me. I ask you to sing over everyone of your children. May they hear your song and respond with humility and joy to your love! You know right where they are and everything they are facing. May they hear your quiet whisper through the enemy's roar. In Jesus' name, Amen.

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Scripture:

• "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." Romans 3:23 NLT
• "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." John 1:8 NIV
• “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day." Exodus 16: 4 NIV (whole chapter here)
• "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8 NIV
• "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
• "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23 NIV
• "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 NIV
• "And after the fire came a gentle whisper....Then a voice said to him," 1Kings 19:12-13 (whole chapter here)
• "Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples." 1 Chronicles 16:8
• "Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul," Psalm 103

Awaken to a Godly Life

“She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks. There is no one to comfort her. The Lord has afflicted her because of her multitude of sins.” (Lamentations 1:2 & 5 paraphrased)

“But our weeping is because of this person or that situation!!”

We don’t ever gossip. Or lie. We never ever yell at our children or spouse...

You see all of these things are of our sinful nature. They sure don’t come from God. “For from within, out of a man’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.” (Mark 7:21-23)

Our culture has watered down Christianity so much that we can be lulled to sleep by it. There is this notion that because we’re not murderers that we are good Christians. Today’s American Christianity accepts E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!! “… those “extreme” things, are for the charismatic Christians or the missionaries…

Matthew 12:35 “ The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” We are walking through our faith lethargically on the edge of sleep. Then we are wondering why our world gets turned upside down when the first storm comes. This is not how God tells us to live! God says, “above ALL else, GUARD YOUR HEART, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

What is a godly life? (What do these things look like in your daily life?)

o Love the lord with all your heart, soul & mind (Matthew 22:38-40)

o Seek 1st the kingdom and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33)

o Obey “Grace did not save Noah, obedience did.”

Titus 3:1-2 “Remind the people to be subject to the rules and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.”

o Love others “and love others as yourself” 

o Love your enemies (Proverbs 25:22)

o Do everything for God (Colossians 3:23)

o Stop being a good modern American Christian & let God consume your life!

Ephesians 5 paints us a picture of what this looks: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

We can all get caught up in the do-do’s of life. Paul talks about fighting our sinful nature in Romans 7, but we must wake up and wage war against our flesh!

“Let us search out and examine our ways” (lamentations 3:40) If we can’t look in the mirror of our hearts and see this godly life, if what we see is our bitter weeping and continuous tears, there’s only one thing to do. We must “turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven.” (lamentations 3:40-41)

The good news is that “through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; Great is his faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” (Lamentations 3:24-25)

Luke 9:28-32 “…Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightening. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. … Peter and his companions were sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory…”

"when they became fully awake, they saw his glory"

It’s time to wake up! Now awaken & move!!

God's Promises for Me Thousands of Years Ago!

Leviticus 26:3-13 NIV

“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.   “ ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.   “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high."

This is the end of Leviticus. If you've ever read this book you know that it is a book of the Laws. This is after God has brought the people out of their slavery in Egypt and is having to give them laws to govern them. He does this through Moses. These are the laws that, in the new testament, the Pharisees and Jews refer to as the Law of Moses or the Laws of Our Ancestors.

I had a discussion with a wise Pastor yesterday because there have been things that I wonder why it is in the Bible. Why is this necessary for me to know? There are things like the sacrifices they used to have to make, I know it is important for me to understand what had to be done so I can understand what Jesus meant as a sacrifice for me. I can look at how detailed God's instructions to them are and understand that even then God wanted hearts that were willing to do anything and that revered him enough to know he's worth even the tiniest detail. But why do I need to know that they weren't allowed to wear garments made of two different kinds of hair?

The conclusion we came to was that we need to read and understand the strict law that was once there, and without Jesus would still be here today, so we can understand and appreciate the freedom Jesus brings to us! Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law for us. So in Him we are able to be worthy of God!

So when I read the scripture quoted in the beginning of this blog, I read it knowing that with my Faith in Jesus Christ and my attempt everyday to live according to His word and walk next to Him through this life accepting His grace that I am able to receive those promises from God!

Today I want you to read that and read it in context to your life!

“If I (name) follow God's decrees and am careful to obey His commands, He will send me rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. My work will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and I will eat all the food I want and live in safety in my land(I will have plenty and God will provide everything necessary to live and live safely in my home, at my job). God will grant peace in the land(in my home and at work), and I will lie down and no one will make me afraid. God will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through my country(there will be no one or nothing to terrorize my home or my family or my job). I will pursue my enemies, and they will fall by the sword before me (I have the victory in all of my battles). Five of us will chase a hundred, and a hundred of us will chase ten thousand, and our enemies will fall by the sword before us.  God will look on me with favor and make me fruitful and increase my numbers, and He will keep His covenant with me. I will still be eating last year’s harvest when I will have to move it out to make room for the new (His favor will increase everything I need to the point where I will have MORE THAN ENOUGH). God will put His dwelling place among me, and He will not abhor me. God will walk among us and be our God, and we will be His people. God is the Lord our God, who brought us out of Egypt (our bondage and addiction) so that we would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; He broke the bars of our yoke and enabled us to walk with heads held high."

BELIEVE it!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford