New Moment, New Opportunity!

Do you ever just mess up? I do! I did this morning... My husband and I were discussing something and out of frustration I let a bad attitude take over. Immediately I felt regret. Unfortunately my flesh is very stubborn and I followed through on the task that my husband had asked me to do without stopping and returning to him with an apology.  The entire time I was doing it I felt God dealing with me. 

Do you children ever do something that they obviously know is wrong and the whole time you're just shaking your head like, Really? Come on now. That's exactly how I felt. In our next conversation we confronted the issue and I apologized and asked his forgiveness. 

I opened up my devo for the day and one of the scriptures referenced was a portion of Isaiah 55.

"For My thoughts are no your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

"For as the rain comes down,

and the snow fro heaven,

And do not return there,

But water the earth,

And make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower

And bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to me void,

But is shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

Isaiah 55:8-11

I want to encourage you today, that every single moment is a new moment, a new start. Each moment is a chance to let God take over. His ways are higher than ours! His word will not return void, but it will accomplish the good work He set out to do!

Take a moment and read Isaiah 55! Meditate on this word and let God blow through and awaken your soul to the joy and peace that he has for you!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Don't be Sorry, Be Sorrowed!

“Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

II Corinthians 7:9-11 NKJV

http://bible.com/114/2co.7.9-11.nkjv

God is so good!! He takes the things that we (the world) were taught to condemn and he refines them and makes them Holy, and useful for his good work!

I was not raised in a Christian home. We were not taught about all of the grace and love. My parents were not terrible parents, they did the best they knew how. But apart from God so much is missed! 

Being "sorry" was always something bad. We had done wrong, we were in trouble. There was so much guilt and condemnation. It is so refreshing to know that even in our mistakes (which the bible says we all do: "we all fall short of His glorious standard") God uses the "sorry" to refine and clear us so that we can glorify Him!!

1 Corinthians 1:27 "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;"

If this doesn't make sense to you don't worry!! It used to not make sense to me either. 

-the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come front he Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

The great news is that Jesus came to this world so that ALL may know God! (Luke 19:10)

Today, you may have the Spirit that reveals all these mysteries and untangles all the lies of the world. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (say this out loud) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead that you will be saved! 

Today, if you are a believer, then your challenge is to take hold of this word and never let it go!! Whatever you do today that is less than, don't let guilt and condemnation set in. Hold on to God's refining and let Him do a new work in you!!

{Behold, I will do a new thing!}

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Jesus is Here!! Ask & Imagine!!

"And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen."

- John 21:25

What a  beautiful this thought! Our Lord and Savior is Jesus! He worked many, many miracles during his time on earth. He has very great miracles for you today!!

Hebrews 13:8 says that, "He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever." 

Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,"

Jeremiah 29:11-13 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your heart.'"

Today, get up, put a smile on your face, and start asking and imagining for your life!! Awaken to the purpose God has for you!!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Comment below and share with us what you're asking and imagining!!

What We All Need, Everyday!

Today's post will be short, the message is simple. We all need Jesus. Not one of us are exempt. Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

I recently dealt with a situation in which the other person is not saved, and of course would be so much better off if they were. What happened was I got all "righteous" and I totally looked over the areas of fault that I had. I was guilty of Plank Eye Syndrome...

Matthew 7:3-4 "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? 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?"

I apologized to God and to this person. You see God loves with a love that gave everything! His redemptive love is what drew me near to Him, it is what draws most, if not all, of us to Him. There is nothing that can take God's love from us, but first we have to accept it! 

Exodus 15:13 "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling."
Romans 8:38-39  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today, let God's redeeming, never failing, never giving up, always and forever love guide your heart, your thoughts and your actions!

~Awake Us~
Brenna Stanford

Fully Awake

One night I was up with my son a few times changing him, feeding him and putting him back down. The last waking of the night it was different. His little belly was hurting him so bad that he became fully awake.

Every other time he woke up he had something that disrupted his comfort but it didn't take much soothing before he was lulled back to sleep again. You see, we can be a lot like this in our spiritual walk, we're nice and comfortable and then something happens and we're jarred awake. But it doesn't take long before we are lulled back to sleep.

The Word of God warns us about the dangers of sleep:

Proverbs 6:9-11 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Proverbs 19:15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry

Revelation 3:15-16 says, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is a story in Matthew 13 about a farmer who planted his wheat, then while he was sleeping his enemy came in and planted weeds to try and ruin his crop! "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)

Time and time again we see in scripture when Jesus goes up to pray and the disciples sleep and Jesus rebukes them for this. But look at Luke Chapter 9, the transfiguration of Jesus; Jesus had taken Peter, James and John to a mountain top to pray then Jesus transfigured and "as he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning." Scripture says that "Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory"

The world that most of us live in is not one that is ridden with extreme physical possession that we read about or even hear about going on in third world countries. What we face is something that seems so much smaller, but man oh man is it dangerous! We face complacency and comfort. We face mundane, "good enough" mind sets. We are neither hot nor cold, we aren't "terrible" people, but we definitely are not fully awake to the plans and purpose of God. It doesn't take much to lull us into complacency, but that's not what God has for us!

I would never want sleep (of any form) to be the cause of missing out on God's purpose for you and me! let God, breathe his might breath on you! Let his Spirit do a new thing in your soul. Let Him awaken you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

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

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Know Your Why

Jesus was betrayed by Judas, he was in the temple courts in front of the priests and a crowd of people. They were all accusing him of blasphemy and anything else they could make up. They wanted a reaction out of Jesus. They pushed ad prodded, slapped, hit, spit, and mocked. They wanted to put an end to him. (see more on that here) And yet, Jesus remained quietly confident. He did not have to say a word.

Has anyone ever tried to get a reaction out of you?

This wasn’t the first time Jesus had faced this either.  He was tempted in the desert before he ever even stated his ministry. Then from the time he did start his ministry up until this very day, there has been people mocking and trying to get a reaction. Any yet, through it all Jesus responded diligently and according to God’s will. He was able to do this because of all of the time he spent with God. He knew that he was walking in God’s will, in everything he said and did.

I wonder, what would have happened if Jesus did respond to them? What would have happened if he did just tell all of them off, if he called down heavens armies, if he would have just blown their minds? We have to honestly look at the possibility that Jesus wouldn’t have gone on to be crucified and died as atonement for all of our sins. Therefore we would not have forgiveness and grace.

Jesus knew this. He knew his purpose. He knew his ‘why’.

So I ask you again, have you ever had someone try to get a reaction out of you? Did you give in and react? Did you stand firm in your quiet confidence like Jesus did? Just before he was betrayed ad led away he was with God, crying out begging God if there was another way to please remove this from him. But this was it, Jesus is the ONLY way and he knew it.

In order for us to stand strong against the enemy we have to know our ‘why’. We have to be confident in it that nothing can shake it away from us! Today your challenge is to go to God and awaken to  your why. Develop it into something so strong that you know that you know that you know, and nothing can be said to make you question or waiver from your why.

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Use What You've Been Given!!

Jesus tells a story about a man who had put some people in charge of some money. For our understanding we’re going to change the value. One man he gave $5,000, to another he gave $200, and another he gave $10. Upon checking back with the men he found that the man who he had entrusted $5,000 to had doubled his money and the same for the man to whom he had entrusted the $200 to. The owner was very pleased and told these two that because they had been faithful with this small thing that they would be trusted with greater things. The man who he had left the $10 with had not done anything with the money and therefore did not lose it, but he didn’t gain any either. The owner was very upset, he cursed him and called him lazy and took away what he had given the man and gave it to the two other men. - Matthew 25:14-30 (paraphrased)

 

What have you been given?

 

We have all been given something. In Romans 12:6 – 8 and 1 Peter 4:10 we find some of what the Bible says about our gifts. “We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in accordance to his faith. If it is serving,  let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” (Romans) “Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter)

Notice these 2 things: 1) Gifts and grace go hand-in-hand. 2) Our gifts are for God and others.

Jesus says in Matthew 22:37 – 40, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” So the very first thing we need to check is our hearts. Is everything in us operating out of love for God and love for others? If not, why? Let’s fix this before we go any further, pause for a moment and talk to God about that.

 

We see in Matthew 10:8 Jesus is directing his disciples, telling them “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Grace is a gift we have received through Jesus Christ and our gifts are meant to showcase God’s grace.

Do you know what your gift is?

It doesn’t matter what your gift is – no matter how big or how small you think it is. Do you remember our guys in the story? They were all entrusted with different amounts. – You have been given a gift! As you think about this new year and all to come begin thinking about your gift and how you can use it.

I want to challenge you to use your gift! Think “use it or lose it”, this is biblical. In Revelation 3:16 Jesus says, “because you are luke warm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Go back to the opening story, the men who were faithful with what they had been given (no matter how big or how small) and because of that they were given more. The man who didn’t do anything with what he was given had that taken from him.

 

Discover your gift, discover how you can use it to glorify God and give grace to others, then get after it!!