Be Amazed

Today I want to simply challenge all of us to take inventory of our lives. Will you focus on all of the negative things and all of the things you don't have? Or will you be willing to focus on everything that you do have?!

Look back and remember all of the times God has got you through something. How often has he calmed the storms in your life. What all blessings has he given you? What miracles has he worked in your life? How has he shown faithful to you?

Let us be a people who are more aware of the blessings in each day. Let us be consistent and stand firm to not give up until God shows up!

Thank God for his majesty, his power, and his grace! The least we can do is praise God...

Let joy and peace fill your heart and soul today. Try to see God in at least one area or moment of your day today. Look for the divine appointments he is setting up for you!

Be Amazed!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

Be Gracious and Attractive

5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

Wow! When I read this my mind was blown!! That is what is so awesome about the Bible, it is alive and active. It can blow your mind! :)

There are a couple of things that I love about this scripture...

1) We are to live wisely among unbelievers. I'm sure many of you work with people or have family who is not a faithful Christian. I say 'faithful' because I believe that this also applies to baby Christians. What does it mean to live wisely? We are to represent Christ with every action. 

The Bible is very clear about Christians being stumbling blocks to others. Matthew 18:6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

You see to Jesus it isn't just about the "right" or "wrong" that you do, it is about life and death! There are a lot of people out there who have been hurt my churches and Christians. Because of that they think the God we serve is hurtful. If you are the Christian harping on everybody for what sin they have in their life and everything they're not doing then please re-read this scripture:

Matthew 7:3-5 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

This goes back to our scripture, the second thing I love...

2) Let your conversations be gracious and attractive. How many of you can look back on your day and say that every word you spoke and conversation you had was gracious and attractive? I can't. Have you ever been around someone and within a matter of moments after hearing them speak you were totally and completely un-attracted to them? (This attraction isn't about 'oooh I want to date them...' It is simply as another human being, someone you would want to be friends with or spend time with.) What about somebody who every word they spoke was harsh and judgmental? Were you wondering about what they'd be saying about you?

So many times all you hear from Christians is how rotten people are or how 'you can't do this or your can't do that'. Or 'by golly you will go straight to hell for doing that', or 'I can't believe that she did that!' Our words are also supposed to represent Christ. When we speak people should be hearing 'grace, grace, grace, grace, grace...' or 'beauty, beauty, attractive, wonderful, awe, beauty...' So what are people hearing when you speak? 

I am very well aware of the plank in my eye and am not trying to gripe about yours. I want us, the body of Christ, to be able to be able to read these scriptures and be convicted by them. I want us to become better, to become fully awake and to live in that! It is so easy to become sleepy. It is easy to see every one else's faults. What if we all allowed the conviction of God through the Word and through the Spirit to change us? What would it look like if we were all living the way God created us to live, fulfilling the destiny He created us to fulfill?!

So today I challenge you, allow the Spirit to wake something up inside of you. Don't be afraid of that stirring inside you, embrace it with boldness and power! Live wisely in your world today and let your words be gracious and attractive!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Be Encouraged!

Today I just want to encourage you in your day. I pray that you would have peace in your mind, your heart and your work place! I pray that when someone or something challenges your patience and compassion that you would be reminded of Colossians 3:12 - clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. I pray that you would see the good in all people.

I pray that you would keep in mind that you are dearly loved. You are a child of the King who rules the world! You were created specifically and on purpose. There is a reason that you are where you are today. There is an assignment that has not yet been fulfilled. Also that there is a season to everything, If there is somewhere else that you'd rather be or something else that you'd rather be doing, remain consistent and do to the best of your ability what God has you doing in this season. If God has called you to step out and into something else, I pray that you would find confidence in knowing that God would never call you to do something that is not for your good.

I pray that you will be a person whose character reflects that of Jesus. I pray that you will have the Holy Spirit's conviction in your every moment. I pray that you would not fear about anything, especially that which God has called you to. I pray that you would be willing to awaken. That you would seek out what God is awakening you for. I pray that you, my friend, would be a person who is used by God to turn this world upside-down!

If you do your part and each person does their own part, then God's mighty orchestra will play the worlds greatest symphony!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

Represent!

Today I was absolutely blown away by a scripture I read. So I am going to share it with you!

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17

Now if you have been to many church services or read the Bible much than you have probably come across this scripture. This is what is so amazing about the Bible, it is the living and active word of God! No other book is like it. So this time when I read it the scripture jumped out at me!

It says that everything we say or do should be done as a representative of Jesus. What does it mean to be a representative or to represent? Represent is defined as to serve to express, designate, stand for, symbolize. So for our understanding let's put the puzzle pieces together...

We are to symbolize Jesus with our actions and our words.

For us to know if we are representing Jesus with our actions and words we must first take an inventory of each.

Look back at your week. Look closely at your actions over this week. What do they look like? Are they a valid representation of our Lord, Jesus Christ?

Now, even more challenging look back upon your words. What do they sound like? What percentage of your words would you say are life breathing? What percentage are declaring death or frustration?

This isn't always easy. Actually most of the time, it's not! It is easier to "act" well and do good, but it is more difficult to speak positively and in a manner that represents Christ. Today I want to encourage you to take inventory of your actions and your words. But also to go a little deeper and take an inventory of where those come from, your mind. Is your mind one that is set on Christ? If not, don't get down on yourself! We have the power to control and change the way we think!

So awaken and set your mind on Christ!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Livin' On Love

There are a group of ladies from my area that meet on Saturdays for a Bible study, if you are reading this and you are a guy don't tune this out. We are taking part in the Good Morning Girls Colossians Bible Study. Today's scripture is something I wanted to share!

Colossians 3:14

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

What I love about this is that the importance of love is shown here. In the previous verses we are given a list of virtues to clothe ourselves in and told to make sure we are forgiving one another. Now to be told that LOVE is what holds, or binds, all of that togerther! Mind blowing!

Have you ever heard someone say you can't live off of love? Well this scripture tells me that you can't live without it! The list of virtues we were given to uphold and obtain were compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (verse 12). Have you ever tried being patient with someone who you don't like? It doesn't work that well! EVERYTHING they do you are watching to judge in one way or another, you will nit-pick their every move and look for a way to make yourself feel better because of a mistake that they made. That is just an example of one of the virtues!

Those virtues would be close to impossible to obtain if it weren't for love. As Christians we have the love of God in us and He loves every single person. So now that person who you may have differences with or completely opposite personalities, you can show them patience and kindness. You have LOVE!

Some of you are already saying okay I got it, we don't have to discuss the forgiveness part, but if it is important enough to be wrote in the word of God than we should maybe take a look at it. We are told to bear with one another and forgive as God has forgiven us (verse 13). That can be very hard to do. I would venture to say that fogiveness is probably one of the top 10 if not top 5 things that people, even Chrsitians, struggle with. Why is it so hard? Well, we are prideful people, we have a prideful and sinful nature. Our flesh will just about turn inside out if we even have to think of forgiving someone who has hurt us! The thing is, when we recieved our salvation we were made new in Christ. We have no more excuses. We cannot set here and tell God, I just can't forgive them, my flesh won't let me. That is a crock of c-rap, and yet we do it. Sometime we do it without even realizing it.

We are told to forgive one another as God forgave us. I don't know about you, but my B.C. days were HORRIBLE!!! God did a LOT of forgiving on my part. I wouldn't want any less either. So why would I not forgive God's other children, my brothers and sisters? Do you have siblings? I had 2 younger sisters and we fought ALL THE TIME. We alwasy got over it and forgave one another though. 

Sometimes it took a little longer than other times, but they're my sisters. We still have to forgive each other for things time to time. These people who we are holding grudges against are our siblings in Christ. Plus the real harm is done to ourselves by keeping unforgiveness.

So today I challenge you to

1. Make the concious effort to obtian compassion, kindness, humility, ggentleness and patience today.

2. Forgive the person you haven't forgiven yet and

3. Do it all with the love of God

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Awakening: Something New!

I don't know what exactly it is, I just know that I am supposed to write. My mind has been racing with something, but it seems so far off that it is unobtainable! I just cant keep from thinking about the Awakening! So I went back and read Why Awakening?!, the story of the vision God gave me. You see I really can't stop thinking about it! I know that there is a new thing God is calling his people to!

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19 NLT)

I remember the very night I first read this scripture. Even then it penetrated my being! That was before I could ever imagine that God would show me such a great thing.

I had the amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip this past summer. There, on a bus in Ecuador God spoke great things over my life. One of those was this new thing he has for me. It wasn't until later that's was able to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, what pieces I have.

So I've known that there is something! I've seen the end result, but I have not figured out all of the steps to get there! That can be so frustrating to me! Meanwhile the are other people who are able to figure out how to spread the message. They have been blessed with platforms to do so, and I am grateful! I know this message and vision isn't just for me, but I still sit her feeling like I must be missing something. The has to be some way that I can do my part in this! And yet I feel the Spirit reminding me of what a person who I look up to very much said, remain consistent.

If you know me, then you know this frustrates the heck out of me! I am willing to remain consistent in my faith if it means I get to keep moving something forward! It's like the storms we have here in Oklahoma. When it's here then alright, you know what you're up against and how to get through it. What is killer is before it comes, the skies are a hue of green, the wind may blow but nothing is happening. You're just sitting, waiting. You have no clue when it will come, how strong it will be or when it will pass. You are just waiting, anticipating.

That's where I am. I want desperately for something to happen! I feel as though I am awake and living in a world that is asleep...

The thing is my Spirit can feel that there is something stirring in the air, it's my flesh that wants to go insane! I know that it isn't here yet because it's not supposed to be. I know that at the exact right time a door will open that will allow me to be used by God in such a greater way than I can even imagine!! What's awesome is that none of it is for me or what glory i could ever think about having. Every single ounce of it is for God's glory! That makes it all the more exciting!!

If this post wasn't for a single one of you out there I know it was for me!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

How Are You Responding to Your Storm?!

Mark 4:35-41
New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

This is such a great scripture! Each and every single one of us will go through a storm in our lives. I heard my youth pastor say once that there are 3 types of people in this world; someone who has just came out of a storm, someone who is in a storm and someone who is about to go through a storm. This is very true. The title of this post is

How Are You Responding to Your Storm?!

These guys were in a storm. Look at how they called out to Jesus, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Have you ever felt like that? I know there has been times in my life where I have. Here recently someone who is in a specific situation with me told me, more than once, the same thing. We're drowning! We're sinking! We're going under!! It was such a hopeless, helpless cry. We are in the same boat, going through the same storm, but we have different perspectives on it.

There difference, Jesus.

You see there is absolutely nothing wrong with calling out to God. We are supposed to do that, but we're also supposed to know who is in the boat with us. 

Today, our challenge is to switch up our perspective. Have you ever heard "You can't see the forest for the trees"? We must have the knowledge to understand that we can only see the trees and the faith to know that our lives are in the hands of the one who can see the entire forest!

Let us be awakened to all that God has for us and is trying to do through and in us!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford