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.

Thriving Under the Power and Authority of Jesus

John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

In one brief statement, Jesus gave the disciples the peace that they needed to overcome the fear that had them gathered in a hiding place and the power and authority that they needed to be successful in their calling.  So it is for us.

It is so easy to be overwhelmed by all that the world throws at us.  It is so easy to become discouraged, even fearful of the outcome ahead of us.  It is so easy to withdraw to a hiding place where doing nothing seems comfortable.  Yet the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” are just as relevant today as they were 2000 years ago.

Are we giving back to the Lord as He has given to us?  He has given us the peace, the power and the authority to do what He has called us to do.  Much has been given to us.  Are we doing all we can do with what we have been given?  Surely we will not leave on the table the feast that He has set before us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to be good and faithful servants.  We rejoice in knowing that there is nothing in the world that can stop us from bringing to harvest the seeds that You have given us to plant.  Father, we pray that You give us the wisdom to see the bounty that You have planned for us.  We ask for the grace and the strength that we need to thrive under the power and authority that we have through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Love, Compassion and Forgiveness 24-7

1 Corinthians 9:22
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

Paul shared with the Corinthians his passion to carry out the good work of delivering the message of salvation to all men.  He emphasized that this required him to be a servant to all men, regardless of their stature or their spiritual state.  In doing so, he was also teaching them that carrying the gospel to all men was their calling also.

God calls people to all walks of life to insure that His gospel message is spread to the world.  He calls some to full time ministry, but most are not.  Most of us are called to traditional occupations where the Lord wants us to let Christ be revealed by the way we live and by the way we treat others.

God wishes for our messages of love, compassion and forgiveness to be the same whether we are in a boardroom or in a maintenance shop, whether we are in a health club or in a hospital, whether we are at a church function or in the visiting room of a prison.  He wants our messaging system to be on 24-7.

All we have to do is surrender our lives to Our Savior and submit to the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord will draw spiritual production from us within the structure of our natural lives.  He will direct our lives toward paths of fruitfulness.  And the glory will go to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the perfect love, compassion and forgiveness that You pour out onto each of us.  We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to become vessels of Your grace.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us and invigorate us to carry the salvation message with us 24-7 as we walk through our daily lives.  May we bear fruit for Your kingdom here on earth.














Savoring the Presence of the King

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, all of our triumphs are in Him.  All of our success, especially our success in leading others to the Lord, are reasons for each of us to rejoice.  In our joy, we must go forward in life, not covered in pride, but covered in the sweet aroma of His presence.

While it is a wonderful thing for us to proclaim to the world how Our Savior atoned for our sins and made us worthy to be heirs of the kingdom of Almighty God, our living testimony should be much more.  The world should be able to see the presence of Jesus in every single action we take and in every single word that we speak.  The world should be able to savor the experience of being near Jesus Christ just by being near us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us conquerors over all things in this world.  We rejoice in the victories that we claim through Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that we be given the grace to overcome the arrogance and the pride that naturally come with victory.  We pray that in every victory all praise, honor and glory goes to You Father, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit.  May the aroma of the One who brought the victory be spread around the world as we become living testimonies to His presence in our lives.

Renewed in Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The two greatest commandments, as taught to us by Jesus Himself, are:
1)  Love God with you whole heart, whole mind, whole soul and with all your strength.
2)  Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Jesus went on to teach us that all other commandments hang off of these two.  These two great commandments are broken down in what we know as The Ten Commandments.  The first half of which direct our behavior toward God and the second half which direct our behavior toward one another.

The Ten Commandments represent the summation of the law by which we are all called to live in order to be worthy to live with Almighty God in heaven.  Unfortunately, no man, not one, can meet the requirements of these commandments, at least not in the flesh.

Fortunately, through the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace of Almighty God, we were given His Son in a new covenant.  No longer judged by the law, our eternal resting place is determined by our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Through our relationship with Jesus, we are given a new nature, fully acceptable to Our Father in heaven.  

While the old man, crippled by his sin, continues to struggle in the flesh, the renewed man in Christ acts with a renewed heart given to Him as a workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus to do good works.  The old things pass away one by one in exchange for the righteousness of Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rest at the foot of the Cross in thanksgiving for the eternal lives that we receive through Your Son, Jesus.  We praise Your name for the mercy that You have extended to us as Your receive us in the image of Your Son because of the atonement that He provided for our sins.  We rejoice in receiving the new natures that we have been given so that our service for You shall be judged worthy.  We pray, Lord, that You accelerate us toward the day in which the last bit of the old man has passed away and we love You with our whole hearts, whole minds, whole souls and all of our strength.








Take Off Your Sandals

Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we become heirs to the kingdom of God.  At this moment, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit then comes into agreement with our spirit that we are children of God.
There are several remarkable things are thus confirmed:  

1. As we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, the presence of Almighty God is with us. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” Matthew 18:20  

2. When we listen to and come into agreement with the Holy Spirit, whatever we ask shall be done by the Father. “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 18:19

3.  In our spirits, we are holy.  For wherever God is, is holy.  When God called to Moses from the burning bush, the first thing God told him was, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5  Some 40 years later when God appeared to Joshua as the Israelites besieged Jericho, He again said, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Joshua 5:15

Protected by God’s presence and empowered by His promises, we have greater power in our lives than anything that can come against us.  To access that power, we must “remove our sandals”. We must acknowledge the holiness of Almighty God, surrender fully to Him and humble ourselves by releasing our earthly trappings and the pollutions of our flesh.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to become temples of the Holy Spirit.  We bless the name of Jesus whose blood washed us clean so that the Holy Spirit could dwell within us.  We rejoice in knowing that we live under the power and authority of Your presence in our lives.  We pray, Lord, for the grace and the strength to humble ourselves before You in awe of who You are.  We ask, Lord, that the world may see and benefit from Your holiness in us.   

Living by a Different Standard

Luke 6:28
Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.

Strike back!  Respond in defense!  Prove that I am right!  All of these are natural human responses to conflict.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to follow a different standard.  “Love thy neighbor as thyself” requires a supernatural response when we run into personal conflict.  We are called to express the love of Christ in each instance.  This may require having to forgive the person in the heat of the conflict.  Only our strength through Jesus Christ allows us to meet this standard.

We do not need supernatural strength to respond in crisis.  Our human nature and our pride are generally sufficient.  But when it comes to facing the day-to-day conflicts in our lives, the supernatural grace of God is required.  It is through His grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we are able to consistently respond in a manner that reflects the discipline of a follower of Jesus Christ. 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You loving us first so that we may love You and love those around us.  We thank You for the mercy that You extended to us through the redemptive blood of Your Son, Jesus, so that we may extend mercy to those who we come in conflict with us.  We thank You for forgiving us of our sins so that we may be able to forgive those who sin against us.  We pray, Father, for the grace and the strength to release to the world the overflow of the lovingkindness that You poured out on us.

Seeking the His Highness In All Things

1 Corinthians 6:11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Once we receive Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we are washed clean of our sins and made acceptable to take our place before the Father in heaven.  We receive what we did not earn and certainly do not deserve.  It is granted to us through the atoning work of Our Savior.  None is the result of our holiness.  

Our holiness is the holiness we receive when we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Our holiness is the result of us allowing the life of Jesus to be manifested in our flesh.  Are we willing to let God do in us all that has been made possible by Our Savior?  Or are we resting content in the salvation that we have been granted without pressing into a relationship with the One who gave His life so that our salvation could be assured?  

Our salvation guarantees our place in heaven.  The relationship that we have with Our Savior will determine our position in heaven.  Both our place in heaven and our position in heaven are gifts from God.   But we must choose to receive them.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the eternal resting place that You have prepared for us.  We ask that we may receive the grace to fully recognize the perfect gift that we have been given and the unimaginable sacrifice that was required for us to be able to receive it.  We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to choose to accept the fullness that is ours through Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that we will never be satisfied with our salvation alone, but that we will seek the highest level of all things that You have set aside for us. 

Under the Dominion of Christ the King

John 18:36
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

The world is all about results.  Everything we are taught by the world directs us toward endless expenditures of our energy and our activities in an effort to produce something deemed valuable by the world itself.

Jesus’ royal power and authority have no origin in this world.  His standing with the Father is in no way furnished by earthly force, fleshly ordinances, physical energies, material wealth or imperial armies.  The dominion of Christ the King springs directly from the throne of Almighty God.  Every good thing that comes to us and flows through us is a result of our relationship with One who sits at the right hand of the Father.  

The Lord is all about process, not results.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to a process of building an intimacy with Our Savior.  From the depths of the relationship that we develop with Jesus, we will produce every good thing that we engage in under His dominion.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day.  We thank You for every day that You have given us.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You here on earth and in heaven for all eternity.  We bless the name of Jesus who makes it possible for us to bear fruit that has value in Your kingdom.  We pray that through our relationship with Your Son that our every activity will give You the praise and glory that is Yours alone.

Focusing on the Fount of Living Water

3 John 1:7
Because that for His name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

As we go through life, we deal with ordinary human stuff.  For most of us, the greater part of our days are filled with the labors that provide for us.  For all of us, the remainder of our days are portioned out for time with our families and loved ones, time for ourselves and perhaps time for service in our community.  All these things make up the fabric of our daily lives.

Where we should differ from the world as disciples of Jesus Christ is in our approach to our daily tasks.  Everything that we do each day should be dominated by our devotion to Jesus under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

It is so natural to put all of our focus on the problems, the challenges and the opportunities in front of us each day.  It is so easy to reach out to what we think we know and what the world has to offer in order to address the issues of the day.  Jesus asks us to take nothing from the world.  He asks us to draw on Him and His indwelling Holy Spirit for our strength and our guidance.  

The choice to focus on and follow Jesus rather than the world becomes a very practical one.   Our Savior teaches us that following the flow of the Living Water will be a path of fruitfulness and joy.  He warns us that the fighting our way upstream on our own or with the help of the world will be fraught with failure and sorrow.  He promises us that if we are in communion with Him, the world will see and benefit from the natural outpouring of His Spirit within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Your ways to us to through Your Son, Jesus.  We praise the name of Jesus for being the way, the truth and the life…for being all that we need in our lives.  We pray, Lord, that You will set us free from leaning on our own ways and the ways of the world.  We ask that You provide us the grace and the wisdom to walk in Your ways under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  May we become vessels of Your Living Water. 




Compassion of the Highest Order

John 19:26-27
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

The compassion that Jesus Christ has for us is beyond our understanding.  His compassion goes beyond human capability.  His compassion extends to a level that only He, as the Son of Man and the Son of God, can personify.

His remarkable compassion was fully revealed to us on the Cross.  In His moments of agony and pain, as He was fulfilling all that He was called to do, as he was placed between thieves with soldiers gambling for His clothing, He called out to the Father, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  In His compassion, He recognized the frailty of all men and extended His perfect love and forgiveness.

Then in the final moments before His death.  He made sure that His mother was cared for.  He took the time to model that even in our highest calling that we have day-to-day challenges in our lives that must be dealt with.  Who but Jesus, could exhibit such personal compassion at the same time that He was taking on the sins of the world? 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your compassionate understanding of our frailty in the flesh.  We bless the name of Jesus who came and lived in the flesh so that we could see how to live both in our highest calling and in our day-to-day responsibilities of caring for our families, our loved ones and those placed around us.  We pray that we will be forever mindful of Our Compassionate Savior as we go through the trials of our lives.  May we extend the fullness of His compassion for us to the world.