Author: Charlie Brignac

Once we accept Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.  The Lord then begins to use us as vessels to carry and share His perfect love and forgiveness.  But first, we must be broken of those things in our lives that would hinder the flow of God’s love through us.

As we submit to the reign of Christ in our lives, we will experience trials and heartbreak.  These trials are allowed by God to create brokenness in our lives.  These same trials will be used by God to create the cracks in us as living vessels of the Lord’s love.  These cracks will then become the portals from which His love will flow through us unhindered by our frailties.

“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us to this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:2

Consequently we can approach every moment of our life, whether it be fraught with good or bad news, with unabated joy and peace.  We can experience this level of supernatural joy by building up our faith in Almighty God through our reading of His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us.

Our faith comes into play when we encounter pain, conflict and/or disorder in our lives.  Our natural human reaction is to try to fix everything ourselves.  All too often, we do not turn to God until we have exhausted our own failed initiatives.

God wants us to turn to Him first in all matters of our lives.  He wants us to grow into a place where we trust Him for everything we need.  We will only reach this place of trust by seeking an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

We are able to stand before Our Heavenly Father in a righteous state because Jesus took on all of our sins on the Cross.  The sins of the old man are no more.  All that remains before the Father is the new man, indwelled by the spirit of Jesus Christ, without blemish.

The new man that stands before the Throne of God is made in His image.  The new man is the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.  He is worthy to dwell with the Father for all eternity.

God is so holy that sin cannot exist in His presence.  Thus every saint in heaven will be completely free of any type of sin.  To have any sin remaining means eternal separation from God.

The Good News is that God provided for our complete cleansing through the death of His Son on the Cross.  It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ that washes us clean of all of our sin.  All we have to do is believe and accept Jesus as Our Savior.  All the necessary work was done on the Cross.

How many did you win?  How many did you sell?  How much profit did you make?  These are the questions that the world asks.  This world is all about measuring bottom line results.

Do we have the ultimate relationship with Jesus Christ that God desires for us to have?  Are we following the processes and plans that the Holy Spirit has given us for our lives?  Have we abandoned or ignored supernatural guidance in order to follow our own plans?  These are the questions that God asks.  God’s kingdom is not about results.  God’s kingdom is based on relationship and spiritual process.  

Life’s great challenge is to choose our master.  Are we wise enough  in God’s sight and foolish enough according to the world to choose Jesus as Our Master?

We should not overwhelm ourselves by doing good things while missing the things God has planned for us.  We tend to overload ourselves with “good” activities while leaving ourselves with too little time to commune with God.  How can we hear His calling if we are not spending time listening to Him?

We should also be alert to the possibility that we are doing so many “good” things that we are neglecting the needs of our own families.  As we listen for God’s calling, there is one certain aspect that will always be there.  Our Heavenly Father will insure that we have time to adequately care for the needs of our families first before we are extended any further. 

God calls people to all walks of life.  Some are called to full time ministries, but most are not.  Most people are called to traditional occupations.  All people are called to let Christ show through them wherever they are and in whatever they are doing.

When we live our lives fully submitted to Jesus, He will surely draw spiritual production through us within the structure of our natural lives.  And we will be called men and women of God and the glory will go to Him.

As Christians, we are living testimonies of Christ within us.  It is not enough that we have a compelling story to share with the world about how we were saved and what it means to us.  While this is good news to share, the world needs to see more.  

The world needs to see us living a life that reflects Christ’s presence in us.  Those around us need to see our living testimony revealed through every single action we take and every single word we speak.

The two greatest commandments, as given to us by Jesus, are:  1)  Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength.  2)  Love thy neighbor as thyself.  He then said all other commandments hang off of these two.

No man, not one, can fully meet the requirements of these two great commandments – not in the flesh.  Only through our new nature in Christ can we meet these standards.  Even when we approach meeting them on occasion, we are reminded in the spirit how far we are from perfection in these two basic areas.