Why? And How to make it count!!

Good afternoon everyone!! I had an entirely other post planned for today but I really feel led to share this simple message.

 

Why are you doing everything that you're doing today? Many of you are preparing meals, getting last minute gifts and things needed for your celebrations today and tomorrow. But why? What is your reason behind all of it?

 

Family... Seeing the face of a child light up with joy as they rip into a wonderful surprise... Snuggling up with your loved ones and enjoying each others company... It's what you're supposed to do right? Christmas is celebrating with family, opening presents, putting aside differences and coming together for the cause of the season.

 

What is the cause?

 

Why are you putting on a smile and putting up with those family members that you can't stand anyway? Why are you putting so much effort into a meal that will be devoured in no time? Why are you spending money you don't have for things children don't need? (I'm guilty too!)

 

All of these things aren't bad, but how good are they? They are only as good as the reason and intent in which you're doing it.

 

This season  isn't about family or gift giving, these are just things we do in celebration of the reason.

 

You see, with this season comes a great, great gift! A gift that was given so that we could be welcomed into an eternal family free from condemnation and sin!

 

Jesus humbled himself and left the throne of God to come to us and rescue us. That miracle, that sacrifice, that gift is why we celebrate! We celebrate with our family in honor of the greatest family!! We spend money to give our very best in honor of the one who gave what money can't buy!

 

As we're preparing our meals, spending time with family we love and family we strive to put up with, while we watch as little children tear into the gifts that seem to cost so much, let us do it all with a different mindset. Let God awaken our hearts to His will in all of it.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as if working for the Lord, not for man.

- Colossians 3:23

Let us remember the real reason we do all of things. Let extend the gift of grace to family that we don't think deserves it, because we do not deserve the gift that was given to us!

 

If you do not know in your heart what I am talking about and you've only known the Americanized, watered down version of Jesus then look up this story in Luke chapter 2. Look for the NIV (New International Version), unless you can understand it please don't try t read King James or New King James versions. You can find it on biblegateway.com

 

Enjoy your celebrations! Merry Christmas!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

{This message is also posted on my other blog, sunflowersandweeds.BlogSpot.com }

Free Indeed!!

"So if the Son of Man sets you free, you will be free indeed!"

 - John 8:36 NIV

 

I love when the Bible uses exclamation marks! I think if there was one punctuation mark that I had to choose to represent life it would be the exclamation mark! I mean, why not? Life is incredible! Everything from the very beginning and the big picture of the universe to this very moment and how our bodies are functioning right now; our hearts beating and pumping blood, our lungs contracting and breathing air in and our, our sensories working allowing us to read this, our brains performing every single thing it is doing at this exact second!!

 

Yes, I am very well aware of all of the terrible things that happen in life. That's just part of it and it's been a part of life since the fall of man in the very beginning. But the Bible places and exclamation mark right here, emphasizing the importance of this statement. The word indeed actually means to emphasize a statement or confirm something already suggested.

 

Today, I want you to think about a few things. First, is there something in your life that you need freed from? For some of you this is an extremely vivid YES! For most of you your immediate response is no. Tune in right here, search your life, your thoughts, your actions, your circumstances, what has you bound? Maybe you're bound by a circumstance that is out of your control. Maybe it's a person who binds you.

 

There is a true story I want to share with you. A person who was entirely in love with the Lord became concerned for another person. These people are family, they know each other and what circumstances they are facing. Out of a godly love concern set in, overtime the concern became so strong that it was eventually put in a priority that only belongs to God. After a little while the relationship between the two became strained and full of bitterness and contention, but there was no escaping and just leaving. the two could not physically distance themselves. What happened was that the distress-maintain style of attribution set in, this is where everything that is negative that takes place is attributed to the other person. (i.e. "it's all their fault that...") Life became just shy of miserable and some days misery was achieved.

 

The person in this story was in bondage because (so they thought) of the other person. They were so godly in their intent to love this person, pray for them and try to help them. But the truth is the moment that this concern was elevated above it's correct priority level then things went south. The person ended up weighed down by their concern for another person and eventually enslaved themselves to that concern.

 

Proverbs 13:12 NIV "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

 

Not all of you are going through that exact scenario, but you are bound by something. None of you wants to be a slave. Everyone longs for freedom. Over the course of history there have been many wars that have been fought in the name of freedom, it is still taking place today. Freedom is what you want.

 

Hebrews 11:1 KJV "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

 

How do you get from hope deferred to sustaining hope?

 

Focus on God, not your bondage!

 

Mathew 6:33 NIV "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given to you."

 

You may be thinking, but I do seek God first. The person in the story thought the same thing. Without even realizing it they had elevated something/someone else into their top priority and their top concern.That concern became an idol. God is very clear throughout scripture that there should be no other idols before him. The enemy is sneaky, he masquerades himself as light in order to fool us. He twists things and distorts them. You might have had a few of these thoughts; "I'm fighting for God!", "God put all of this together!". The whole time God's shaking his head.

 

1 Peter 5:8 NIV "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

 

You have to stay alert and keep your mind sober! Sober is defined ass earnestly thoughtful; marked by temperance. You cannot fill your head with crap and expect to not be deceived. Let me interject this one thing right here, if it doesn't line up with God's word then it's WRONG! There's no way around that.

 

So, keep your focus on God. If you're looking at him you don't have time to see the tricks of the enemy. When you adjust your focus, He is able to remove your bondage.

 

The one thing the person from the story will tell you is that once your focus is on God and you run in that freedom, you stop worrying so much about things. Make sure that you catch that, you will still have circumstances arise. You will even still care about them, but you won't worry. You are free in knowing that God is taking care of everything and all you need to do is focus on Him and let Him guide you in every moment.

 

"So if the Son of Man sets you free, you are free indeed!"

 

"...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfector of faith."

- Hebrews 12:1 - 3 NIV

 

~Awaken Us to Motion~

Brenna Stanford

 

Scriptures to Study:

Mathew 6:33

Psalm 51:10

Proverbs 3:6

Romans 12:1- 3

John 8:36

Hebrews 12: 1-3

Hebrews 11:1

Crucified by the Crowd

“But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” For the third time he demanded, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him.” But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices prevailed.”

Luke 23:21-23 NLT

Have the voices of the crowd ever prevailed against you?!

Jesus knows exactly what you are going through. The crowd made up false testimony. The rulers had no real reason to crucify him and even wanted to let him go. BUT the crowd!! The crowd made such a fuss that they refused to settle for anything less than crucifixion. 

Do you know that Jesus did not go to battle with the crowd? He knew God's will would be fulfilled no matter what!! You are not alone!!

Take heart!! The righteous will always prevail!! 

“O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. Interlude”

Psalms 62:8 NLT

There's a song by Jeremy Camp that says over and over, "the same power (that rose Jesus from grave, that commands the dead to raise, rose mountains when he speaks, can calm a raging see), lives in us!! No weapon prevails, we stand in victory!!"

It may be the darkest day you've faced but Jesus is still with you!!

Look at Isaiah 30:19-26 NLT

“O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries. Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, “Good riddance!” Then the LORD will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the LORD begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.”

There is purpose in your pain!! It is for the glory of the Lord that you are still standing!!

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.”

Psalms 23:1-6 NKJV

Take heart and stand firm in the Lord! He has a purpose for you!!

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!!

Get Your Strong Confidence!!

I'm not sure if you've heard or not so I'll briefly catch you up. Zondervan, a huge Christian publishing agency has sold their publishing rights of the Bible to another company. This company has been known for publishing satanist books along with other books that, in a very straight forward manner, go against things the Bible teaches us.

That's not all. Since this has happened they have already removed several verses of scripture and taken out many, many words all together.

When I found out about this I was blown away. Questions like how in the world could they do that? Why?!

Tonight there have been many times that I have woken up thinking this was all a dream. It's not. My heart is absolutely broken!! How can anyone take away from the Word of God?!?! How can they get away with this?!

This brings about even more talk of The End coming. The wife and mother in me gets so scared. What will my babies be facing when they get older? What if Jesus does come back soon? I have many people who are very dear to me who refuse to believe in God.

Then I found this scripture. "In the fear of the Lord [Yahweh, I Am] there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge." Proverbs 14:26 NKJV Then there was peace.

Yes, people may be removing words from the bible. Online and on your apps it's already done. Who knows if there is more to come? BUT we still have OUR Bibles, the paper ones that no one can come and erase words. Earlier today someone mentioned how the Nazi's tried to get rid of every religious book. I'm not a huge history buff but that may not have been the first time for something like this to happen either.

I'm in no way shaking this off as an "oh well, what can we do about it?" thing. I am here saying that God is the great and almighty I Am!!! There is none like Him and Satan CANNOT defeat Him!!! God has already won the war!! The Bible is the oldest surviving book in the world. I'm not sold that it can't survive this too.

We as Christians need to take this and move forward boldly sharing what we know is truth. That is God's word, all of it!! Our God is full of grace, compassion and love, and he wants everyone to know about it!! So let those who fear the Lord find strong confidence!! Let us boldly share God's love with the world!!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

The Path is Ready!!

One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”   Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”   About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”    “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”   The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”    While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
Acts 10:3-6, 9-15, 17, 19-20 NIV

So often we're Cornelius in this story. After God speaks to us we begin to worry about whether or not Peter will come, after all he's Jewish & we're not. His ministry is to the Jews, God's people not us!

What we aren't realizing is that when God asks something of us he will always prepare our path just as he prepared Peter's heart.

So when the Holy Spirit prompts you, obey it. Trust Him!

~Awaken Us~
Brenna Stanford

Obey, Move, Ask!!

26 "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all of the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in he's chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, 'Go to that chariot and stay near it.'

30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. 'Do you understand what you are reading?' Phillip asked.

31 'How can I,' he said, 'unless someone explains it to me?' So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

'He was lead like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.'

[Isaiah 53:7-8]

34 The eunuch asked Philip, 'Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?' 35 Then Philip began with that passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, 'Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?' 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him."

Acts 8:26-36

This is such a fabulous passage. There are a few things that we are going to look at today. First, the obedience of Philip. Next, Philip's willingness to take action. Finally, the eunuch's mindset.

Before we dive into the scripture we must understand a couple of things. First, when you read the Bible, you are listening to God. God shares a story with us in 1 Kings 19:11-12 about how he speaks to us. "The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper." It is in a gentle whisper. This is consistent even when reading the living Word.

Secondly, we must have a full understanding that we always have a choice. No matter what circumstance we are in, we always have a choice. This applies spiritually as well. Deuteronomy 30:19 declares "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" God will never push himself on you. He will never force you to make one decision or another.

Look at verse 26. "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' The angel gave Philip a specific route to take, the desert road.  Philip could have rebuked  and said that road was called the desert road for a reason. What good would he be to God if he traveled where there were no people? There were a million reasons why he could have chose to go a different route, a more traveled route. Nevertheless, he started out.

Do you know what? The very next words after Philip obeyed are "and on his way he met". This isn't the only time Philip had to decide wether or not he was going to obey God. At this point he met up with a very important person, then God went a step further. He told Philip to "Go to that chariot and stay near it." There are two verbs in this command, go and stay. Philip obeyed both.

When we obey God, good things always come our way. Leviticus 26:3-4 "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit." You do not have to be a farmer to understand this analogy. 

The next thing that we need to look at is what Philip does after his obedience to the Spirit. 'Do you understand what you are reading?' Phillip asked. He heard the man reading scripture then he took it upon himself to ask the man a question. Scripture does not tell us that the Spirit told Philip to do anything further then go and stay near the chariot. Philip stepped up and stepped out to ask a question. My Pastor has always told me that God will not do for me what I can do myself. For each of that looks different. We must look at it through the eyes of parenthood. Let's say that you have a 2 year old who is incapable of getting something to drink on their own. When he is thirsty he must ask you for help. But when he is 13 years old he is fully capable of getting something to drink by himself. He no longer has to ask you.

It is the same for us as Christians. It is my observation that we go through this stage as Christians where we have to learn to get our own drink. We have been used to asking our Heavenly Father for everything and receiving what we ask for. Then as we start to grow, we can reach the shelf by ourself, we can carry the cup of water without spilling it, we can take a drink on our own, but we are unsure if it is okay. It is! We can never do life on our own, but we must learn and grow in everything. For everything we learn to do on our own there are 2 more things we learn that we need God to help us with. There will be new mountains and new races. But the things that we can do, we must. You can pray, so pray for someone when they share a need with you. You can serve, so serve a need. You can listen, so listen to those who need an ear. You can share what Jesus has done in your life, so share.

We will find that when we step up and step out, God blesses that. The result of Philip stepping up and stepping out was the salvation of this man which results in life change.

The story doesn't end there. Verse 36 shows us the eunuch's response, "Why shouldn't I be baptized?" Why shouldn't I?! There are so many things that we face and have no response when really our response should be, Why shouldn't I?! Why shouldn't I step out and take the job? Why shouldn't I step out in faith and trust God for this? Why shouldn't I?! American Christianity can be very watered down. The majority of the time I live a very watered down life. We must awaken to the fact that God has a greater purpose for us then going through the motions of life. He needs us to step out and write that book, sing that song, record that album, serve in that ministry, love that person, feed those people, go to that town, and many other things.

Today, reflect on where you are in this story. Do you need to be more obedient to God without the back talk? Do you need to step up in your relationship with Christ and start doing for you what you can do on your own? Do you need to be asking yourself the question, Why shouldn't I?! Then, do something about it!

~Awaken Us~

Brenna Stanford

Brenna Stanford