Author: Charlie Brignac

I am forever a student of the Word and a disciple of Jesus Christ, finding life applications in Scripture. I write about Christian themes, including bringing others to Christ, the matchless name of Jesus and various spiritual concepts like a penitent heart and overcoming darkness. I focus on Christian teachings, personal faith and reliance on the Holy Spirit. I invite you to read through my daily writings. Think them out for yourself through your study of God's Holy Word. Pray on the meaning of the message. Then let the message come alive in your life.

Building Our Lives on the Rock

John 20:22
And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Ahh…the new year…time for new resolutions, time for new plans, time for new dreams, but unfortunately, usually the beginning of things that will not succeed.  Our failures will not be because we did not try.  Our failures will be because we had the wrong foundation.

Just as the apostle Peter learned when he failed the Lord three times, we can never count on our own strength.  Our resolutions have no power in them.  Our own strength is never enough to meet the demands and challenges of this world.  Our strength must come from the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that He gives us.  The Holy Spirit has been sent so that we may have the foundation that we need to rise up against the enemy that is always trying to bring us down.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit to come along side of us to be our counselor.  We praise the name of Jesus who defeated all evil when He died on the Cross so that we could defeat the evil that comes against us.  We pray that you will teach us to accept our utter failure without Christ.  Help us to realize our best will never be good enough until we are cleansed by the blood of Our Savior and receive His Holy Spirit into our lives.  Help us Father to build our lives on the Rock that is Jesus Christ.

Waiting on the Lord

Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
In our society, patience is a lost virtue.  Everybody wants satisfaction instantly.  Nobody is willing to wait on anything.
The rush to get things done is in direct opposition to how Our Heavenly Father works.  No single thing is done in His kingdom until everything is in perfect order for the perfect result.  This is especially true in our lives.  The Lord does not want us to advance until He has prepared us and our surroundings properly.  If we try to move ahead of God’s plan, we will meet heartbreak and disappointment.

We can make a lot of good decisions in our lives without God.  We can accomplish a lot of good things without God.  We cannot accomplish anything of real kingdom value without placing our reliance on Our Heavenly Father and waiting on Him to direct us through His Holy Spirit.  In order to be deemed good and faithful servants, we must learn to wait on the Lord in all things.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for working all things in our lives for our good when we trust in You.  We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to be with us always to remind us to lean on You and not on ourselves.  We pray, Lord, that you will give us the patience to wait on you.  We ask that You show us how to be still in the valley as you prepare the mountain top for us and those that You have given us to serve.  We rejoice in Your faithfulness.  We ask all these things in the name of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

Understanding the Mysteries of God

Job 11:7
“Can you fathom the mysteries of God?  Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world.  Yet Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries to even the most simple minded through His Holy Spirit.  Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Of course, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us.  We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.  It can be helpful to open our quiet time with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to say to me today?”  He is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to commune with You each day.  Lord, may we learn to delight in Your presence and learn how to experience the revelations of who You are and all of Your wonderful mysteries.  We pray these things in the name of Your precious Lamb, Jesus Christ. 

Moving Forward in Faith

Isaiah 11: 8-9
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.  And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith…
What an amazing example of living in faith is provided by the story of Abraham.  It was a great step of faith for Abraham to leave his family and his homeland in response to God’s calling on his life.  He did not even know where God was leading him.  Yet he faithfully followed the path that the Lord laid out for him.  And for his simple act of faith, he became the father of all nations.

God calls each of us to take simple steps of faith.  As we respond obediently, He puts before us the next step which usually requires a little more faith in Him and letting go of faith in ourselves.  We may not become a father of a nation by yielding to our calling, but we will surely gain more than we ever imagined.
Prayer 
Heavenly Father, we thank You for having a unique plan for each of us.  We rejoice in knowing that the reward that You have prepared for us if we respond to Your calling is beyond our imagination.  We pray, Father, that you will give us the strength and guidance to follow the path that you have laid out for each of us.  Even though we may not know our destination, Lord, may your Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in our journey to stand before you in the image of Your Son.  We pray these things in the precious name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.


Our Hope in Jesus Christ

Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
In Paul’s writings to the Romans, he establishes that there is to be no shame in following and putting our eternal hope in Jesus Christ.  I could never have imagined that there would be a time when this teaching would be relevant here in the United States of America.  Yet here we are.  
Christians are mocked daily on talk shows, news shows and entertainment shows.  To publicly stand for the very truths given to us by Our Heavenly Father makes us bigots, haters, etc.  Now more than ever, we are called to share our good news with the world around us.  The hope that we have in Christ is the only hope left for our beloved nation.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for this new year that You have given us.  We thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to build up our strength to stand against the folly that this world will try to get us to accept.  We pray that the Your Holy Spirit will give us the courage we need to boldly present the “way, the truth and the life” that is in your Son, Jesus.  We ask this in His precious, holy and mighty name.

Go Boldly Into the New Year

Isaiah 52:12
For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Praise God.  He is so good.  He gives us what we do not deserve and what we could never earn.  He forgives our sins and makes payment through His Son for our past.  He sets our future firmly in His hand.  He frees us to live today in freedom, in peace and in service to His calling on our lives.  

We can move into the new year knowing that God will be with us.   Through His Son, His Holy Spirit has been sent to guide us.  Under submission to Our Savior, we can let loose of the things of this earth and grasp on to the things of God’s kingdom.  We can shake ourselves from the dust of our doubts and our fears.  Our victory was settled on the Cross.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for settling the debt that we could never repay.  We bless the name of Jesus whose precious blood washed away our sin and established our righteousness forever.  We pray, Father, for the wisdom not to linger in our past which condemns us.  We ask, Lord, for the grace to move openly, boldly, safely and without fear into the victorious future that has been set aside for us.  May those around us be drawn to You through our living testimony to Your loving kindness and Your mercy.  

In the Flow

Psalm 87:7
Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.”

The sanctification process is not for the proud.  It is a most humbling experience as God reveals to us everything in our lives that is not suitable for His presence.  And it is generally not the “don’t do” sins that are the most humbling for those who God has called to be His own.  The most humbling experiences come when we find ourselves in dry periods because what we are doing is falling short of what God has called us to do to please Him.

Jesus only did in His life what the Father called Him to do.  So it will be in our lives if we surrender to the one who indwells within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking us through dry seasons when we are falling short in our efforts to please You.  We thank You that You use these seasons to draw us to the Living Water, Jesus Christ, so that we may bath in the springs of His joy, His peace and His comfort.  We pray that as we experience the fullness of His grace that we may become living founts of His perfect love for those around us.

To Be a Child Again

Matthew 18:3
Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Small children run to their parents for everything.  Whether they need comfort, provision or direction, they immediately seek the arms of their parents.  They do not question the authority or the power of their parents.  They assume the parents have the power to provide whatever it is that they need or desire.  More than anything else, they do not see themselves as capable of doing more for themselves than their parents could do.

This is the type of reliance that God wants to see from all of us.  God wants us to rely on Him for everything without ever considering that we could provide for ourselves just as well.  

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 5:3

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessings and the benefits that we receive as Your children.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to inherit Your kingdom and all of its provision and protection for all eternity.  We pray, Father, that we be renewed in our minds so that we may become as simple, as humble and as teachable as small children.  May we discard forever all the self-seeking lifestyles, distrust and deceit that we learn from the world.  May we walk in the excellence of Our Savior.  

The Matchless Love that Covers Our Sins

John 12:32
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

There is sin in every human’s life.  Even the tiniest of which separates us from ever entering into the presence of God.  While feeling true sorrow for our transgressions and making earnest attempts at not failing again are good things, they are not enough to bridge the gap from God that is caused by our sin.

Only the Cross of Jesus Christ is sufficient to reconcile the separation.  This way was made possible because of His death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.  Only through Jesus Christ can we have a place prepared for us in heaven for all eternity.  Only by accepting the invitation that He issues when He draws us unto Himself can we receive what has been set aside for us.  

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace that prepares an inheritance for us that we did not earn.  We praise You for Your mercy that spares us from the destiny that we deserve.  We bless the name of Jesus who draws us unto Himself that we might overcome what the world has prepared for us and receive what Our Heavenly Father has prepared for us.  May our gratitude for Your matchless love be expressed in our living testimonies which draw others to the gift of salvation that is offered through Your Son.