Your Abundance Does Not Wither!

“Blessed is the man

     who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

     or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

     and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

     which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

     Whatever he does prospers. 

Not so the wicked!

     They are like chaff

     that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

     nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

     but the way of the wicked will perish.”

- Psalm 1:1-6 NIV

What was your initial reaction to this scripture? A breath of power and esteem? A sigh of relief? An eye roll? A stir of annoyance?

More than likely depending on the day and what's going on in your life the reaction might be different. Most emphasis on this scripture is directed to be rooted in Christ, the stream of water. And how when you are then you will receive the prospering that is discussed. With that in mind, as a Christian you might have reacted in the positive manners, a breath of power or esteem or a sigh of relief. Even if this is the case, I still want to challenge you to go a little deeper with it! So keep reading. :)

But what if your reaction was on the other end? What if this scripture made you roll your eyes or it aggravated you? I want you to take a moment and ask yourself why. 

Are you ready for complete transparency?!

This morning when I read that I rolled my eyes. {Catch your breath! Yes, me, the one writing all of these blogs and praying for you, the one who loves Jesus with all my heart, - I rolled my eyes!!!} I am far from perfect and as much as I hate to admit it, my flesh gets the best of my mind sometimes. When I read that a Christian is like a tree planted by waters that will  prosper in whatever he does, I sent that through "a breeze through the trees"** of my thoughts and thought patterns that have been formed over the 24 years of my life. This morning followed the several days of the enemy attacking my thought life. So the trees this scripture breezed through were ones that were growing in toxicity; "humph, not me...", "not everything I do prospers", "I'm not good enough", and the list goes on.

Luckily, I have had wonderful mentors, pastors, and friends who have trained me since my spiritual birth to fight my flesh. They have taught me and walked with me through many of the spiritual growing pains I have faced. I have been raised well. 

Have you ever met a 20 something, spoiled brat who doesn't know what real work is? Have you ever met a 20 something who has been raised well, with a head on their shoulders, manners, and a great work ethic? You can immediately see the differences. The same goes for spiritual growth. Some have been raised well, others not so much. 

{{If you are a Christian who feels like you have not been raised well and you identify more with the 20 something brat, find strength and power in that there is still growing up to do. You're not stuck where you are, no matter how long you've been there.}}

Because of my spiritual upbringing I have been able to stand firm and not relinquish my thoughts and emotions to satan. So when I read that and rolled my eyes there was a spirit check. Why? Why was that my response? Also, God's nudging was there to push me from noticing a spirit check to discovering and shifting something in me. He opened my eyes to the rest of that verse.

"...which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither."

First, the tree yields its fruit IN SEASON, not continuously. If you've been in church for very long you know that there are "seasons of life", this is a churchy term used to describe the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of life. This is not exclusive to Christians, but effects non believers too. So we Christians can become used to this term and look it over easily in scripture, while maintaining our pre-percieved ideas about whatever we just read. While I read that the tree will bear its fruit in season I still had in my head a tree will bear fruit constantly and continuously. But that is not what the Word says. There will be a time to "bear fruit", {another churchy term that means to see the payoffs of our hard work - apply that to whatever area of life you need to}, but there will also be a time when no fruit is seen.

Second, the leaf won't wither. When do leaves wither? Extreme circumstances, cold/hot, and in fall, the "season" of death and dormancy. So this tree is not exempt from the heat or from the cold, it is not exempt from the seasons of death and  dormancy. However, the tree will endure. The tree will continue to show signs of life, a leaf not withered. 

This is there promise that we have from the Lord. If we remain in Him, if we obey and meditate on His laws, we will not wither and we will bear fruit in the proper season. 

Through this scripture and others like it we are also promised that if we do not abide in the Lord, if we choose to "walk in the counsel of the wicked" and to make our selves at home there, then we will be like chaff; dried, dead, and useless. We will be tossed around by life, not able to grip anything. We will not truly live.

So, wherever you are, whatever you're going through, I pray that this message speaks to you. I pray that you hear your heavenly Father, your Rescuer, your Best Friend, calling out to you, encouraging you to walk with him. He has the water to provide for seasons, to keep you from withering away and to supply your fruit in the proper season.

Father, thank you that you care enough about us to encourage us and to prompt us to go deeper with you. Thank you for your provision and for giving us your best, no matter what life throws at us. Thank you for new life, for fruit, for steady stream, pouring into us constantly! Give us peace that goes beyond our circumstances and courage to stand firm in you! 

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Young Living
Member # 2645436

P.S. So right after I had this moment with the Lord I read a post by one of my leaders. I'll share it below. Basically it was a post reminding us of how awesome and powerful these gifts of essential oils are. This particular one is a blend called Abundance. I have this, and actually had it in my purse. So I pulled it out and applied it topically and inhaled it directly. This gift from God paired with the reawakening of this scripture shifted my mind and spirit enough to kick satan's tricks out of my mind, refocus and walk in the abundance God has for me!

Post:

Seriously y'all. You need to use Abundance oil like water. No joke. It's the #secretsauce along with a train load of #hustle!!!

This essential oil has a powerful effect on your energy. If you are radiating the frequency of scarcity {poverty mindset}, it will be very difficult to move into a place of Abundance. Many people find this incredibly beneficial.

HOW DO YOU USE IT?
1. diffuse it during the day
2. diffuse it at night while you sleep
3. rub it on your feet
4. wear it like perfume
5. rub a drop on your phone (seriously)
6. rub a drop on your computer (yep)
7. put a drop on oily mail that you are sending out
8. put a drop in your wallet (no joke)
9. add a few drops to a spritzer with water and spritz yourself each day.
10. spritz the floor mats in your vehicle

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:20

#ALLtheabundance #getyousome

**This is a phrase taken from Who Switched Off My Brain? by a Christian neuroscientist Caroline Leaf. I highly recommend you reading this book!

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