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.

Our Holiness Flourishes on Earth

1 Corinthians 1:30
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.

Are we willing for God to make sanctification as real in us as it is in His Son, Jesus?  The sanctification process begins with submission.  The submission process begins when we humbly receive Jesus Christ as Our Redeemer.  Our sanctification begins immediately upon our submission to Our Savior.  The sanctification process flourishes as we deny ourselves and rely entirely on Jesus to release His holiness in our lives.  The sanctification process continues until the day we stand before the Lord in the fullness of our completed holiness.

Sanctification is impossible in our flesh alone.  It is only possible with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit in full operation in our lives.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we access all the perfections of Jesus and slowly, but surely, begin to live a life of holiness on this earth. 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking us from the corruption of our old man into a condition of holiness in our new man in Christ.  We worship You and bless Your name from the fount of holiness that Our Savior has created within us.  We pray that we will receive the grace that we need to remain steadfast on our journey of sanctification.  We seek to have our journey become a living testimony to those who you have placed in our lives.  We ask for the wisdom and the courage to share our sanctification story with  them.  

The Struggle Within


Hebrews 13:21

equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Upon receiving Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit begins to show us what sanctification means. Immediately the struggle begins. Everything that we do that is displeasing to the Lord comes to light.  

Jesus became man so that He could die for our sins.  When He comes to dwell within us, there is no room for the sins of the old man.  We must allow our old selves to die as we assume our new life in Christ.  The two cannot abide together.  To try and hold on to our old lives once Jesus has arrived is to enter into a struggle that is filled with endless pain. The new life of joy is found only in the death of our old lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Holy Word that defines the things that please you.  We praise You for revealing to us all the things in our lives that displease you.  We bless the name of Jesus for giving us victory over the sins that try to defeat us.  We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us in our struggles to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy.  May the Holy Spirit enlighten us in the areas that the world tries to redefine as acceptable when You have already defined it as sin. May all that we do be acceptable in Your eyes. May it all be for Your glory. 



Opening the Door to the Kingdom of Heaven

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

The Beatitudes seem quite odd.  They seem to erect standards that we cannot attain and offer gifts that are beyond our reach.  The Beatitudes become much clearer when we realize that they are all about our relationship with Jesus Christ and how it impacts our lives.   The first four Beatitudes specifically address our relationship with Jesus.  The remainder of the Beatitudes address how our lives will change when we accept Our Savior.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit” speaks to how far we fall short of the glory of God without His Son’s redemption.   “Blessed are those that mourn” speaks to our need to express our sorrow for our sinful ways.  “Blessed are the meek” speaks to our need to humble ourselves before Our Savior and accept the salvation that He offers us.  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” speaks to our need to become new men and women in Christ.

When we have responded to the teachings of the first four Beatitudes by accepting Jesus as Our Savior, the character and actions in our lives become a reflection of the rest of the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.  With Christ indwelling in us, we are able to be merciful, be pure of heart and be peacemakers.  As a result, we will be persecuted for our righteousness in Christ.  When all these things have happened, rejoice and be glad for our reward will be great.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing to us our great need in Our Savior, Jesus.  We exalt the name of Jesus for it is through Him that we are given the kingdom of heaven.  We pray, Lord, for the humility to recognize our filthy and condemned nature without the saving grace of the Cross.  We ask that Your Holy Spirit will come along side of us and help us so that we will allow the power of the presence of Your Son in our lives to change how we serve You.  May we receive the fullness of the blessings that are promised in the Beatitudes.  

The Renewal of Our Minds

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We are not what we ought to be, but we are not what we use to be either.  This is the wonder and the grace of salvation.  This is the continuing process of sanctification.

Jesus loves us just as we are, but He loves us so much that He cannot allow us to stay where we are.  With His indwelling, we find ourselves in the constant battle of our old man (flesh) and our new man (our new spirit in Christ).  We must let go of everything old – guilt, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, addiction, depression, despair, fear.  These are the things of the flesh.  These are the things that hinder us in our process of sanctification.  These are the things that Jesus Christ freed us from when He died on the Cross.  

The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the work of the renewal of our minds.  This work will continue until it is perfected in glory. The great enemy to renewal of our minds is our desires to conform to the things of this world, which will soon pass away.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to die for our sins so that we may be free from the corruption of our flesh.  We praise You for giving us the Holy Spirit to help us live as new men in Christ instead of men and women of the world.  Help us, Lord, to let go of everything in the old man that is hindering our relationship with You.  We pray that You strengthen us so that we may cling to Your grace as we continue in our journey of sanctification. 

Nourishing the Seed of Faith

Matthew 13:32
It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

The mustard seed is very small.  To look at it, one might assume that this seed could never be anything significant.  Yet when it germinates from the tiniest of beginnings, it blossoms into one of the largest plants in any garden.  But it does not get to its imposing size if it is not properly nourished.  

The same is true of our faith.  Our faith starts out as seed planted in our hearts.  It starts out small at first, but when properly nourished grows into something so large that it changes how we live and how we serve God.  Jesus taught that with faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for planting a seed of love within our hearts.  Thank You for the nurturing care of the Holy Spirit in our lives that that stirs our hearts and feeds our faith   We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to nourish and care for the seed of love within us.  May our faith become big enough to supply our needs as we seek to bear fruit for Your kingdom.

Because We Seek Him

Acts 9:5-6
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

The Lord promises us that we will reign over much if we are obedient to His law. (Duet 28:1).  The extent of our favor will be decided by the obedient choices that we make each day.

In Acts, we read that before Paul was given any responsibility, before he was given any spiritual task, he was simply asked to “rise and enter the city.”  If Paul had failed to be obedient in following this simple command, we would not have all the writings of Paul in the Bible.  Some other obedient man would be there in his place.  But Paul was obedient in this first dramatic calling and to all the others that the Lord issued to Him, so he became one of the greatest men in all of the Bible.  His teachings have been a blessing to generations of people throughout the ages.  His legacy continues to live on today.

The other thing that we learn about Paul is that he never sought the favor he received. He only sought the one who called Him.  So it is with us.  We will receive favor from the Lord, not because we seek favor but because we seek Him.  All the good things that we receive from the Lord here on earth and in heaven will be because we sought the Lord and we were obedient to his calling.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to Yourself.  We seek You, Lord.  We humbly come before You and ask forgiveness for all the times that we have fallen short in our obedience to You.  We pray that You will strike us down like You did Paul, so that we may see how we have offended You and so that we may turn our lives toward the path that You direct us.  May the Holy Spirit guide us, inspire us and provide our strength to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy.  May we learn to be slaves to Jesus Christ and not slaves to this world.  May Your grace be with us always.    

Inspired by the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:4
And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Why is it that when we pray in public we are so concerned about how we sound?  This pride can limit the power of the Holy Spirit.  We can actually block the movement of the Holy Spirit by putting ourselves in the way.  In an effort to impress man, we can hinder the movement of God in their lives and our own.  

It is part of our ongoing spiritual maturation to learn to let go of our desires to please man in all that we do.  We must learn to let the Holy Spirit help and guide us as we seek to please God first.  We must learn to trust that supernatural power can be released through us simply by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  We must humbly accept that all the good work that comes from what we do is the result of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for equipping us through the Holy Spirit to please You in all that we do.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will show us how to let go of our old nature – the desire to please men – and will enlighten us to put You first in all things.  May we see the release of fruit in our lives as we allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to do Your good works.

His Sovereign Rule Over Our Lives

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

It is very easy to become frustrated, concerned, depressed, or even angry, when things seem to be piling up against us.  As we mature in our relationship with God, we learn to understand that He is always with us and He is always in control.  As we mature in our relationship with Our Heavenly Father, we learn to find comfort, even joy, in every circumstance that we encounter.  

This supernatural comfort and joy that defies the emotion that our flesh demands from us will be possible as we come to trust Our Heavenly Father in His sovereign rule over our lives.  He has allowed us to be where we are.  Even though we cannot see it at times, He is controlling all things in our lives for our eternal good.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your sovereign rule over our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that we can find peace in You when the world is offering us none.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will will strengthen us when the world tries to weaken us.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will turn us back to the light of victory when the world is trying to turn us to the darkness of defeat.  We pray that through it all our trust in You will be complete.

Debtors to All Men

Romans 1:14
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

Paul was inspired by his view that Jesus Christ was his spiritual creditor.  He was constantly driven to impart all that he had received from Jesus to the world around him.  It was impossible for him to contain what he had been given through grace.  So it should be with us.

God pours our His never ending love upon us.  As we receive it, we cannot contain it.  We must let His love spill out from us to the world around us.

Through His love, Our Father gave us His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.  As we receive Jesus as Our Savior, we cannot keep Him to ourselves.  The presence of His Holy Spirit within us must flow into the lives of those around us.  To limit the flow is to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You providing Your Son, Jesus, to cleanse us of our sin debt for all eternity.  Inspire us, Lord, to understand that through the gift of salvation we have become debtors to all men.   Show us how to repay that debt through the services that You call us to do.  Teach us how to impart the joy that You have given us.  Equip us to share the good news with those who You bring into our lives.  May it be done for the honor and glory of the Blessed Trinity.

Keeping Our Eyes on the Throne

Isaiah 6:1
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.  

As we read in this scripture, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord after the death of a major figure in his life, King Uzziah.  We, too, often get visions that are brought on by life changing moments – passing of family members or close friends, brokenness in personal relationships, challenging financial times or significant injury or illness.  It is natural for us to question our direction when these life altering events occur.

Too often we try to rebuild our lives based on our earthly vision of our work, our family or some particular passion that we have for this world.  All is for naught until we realize that there is only one vision of substance and value – the vision created with God as the primary focus of our lives.

Only when we cast our visions through His focus, can we become truly fruitful.  Until then we are building stacks of stubble and hay.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing events in our lives that force us to seek You first.  Help us, Father, to keep our eyes on Your Throne and Your Glory.  May the trappings of the world never again form the foundations of our visions.   May You alone be our blessed hope and assurance.