Author: Charlie Brignac

Once we have received Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, we spend our remaining days on earth preparing to meet Our Savior in heaven.  Our preparation time with Jesus Christ allows us to be presented to the Father covered by perfect white garments supplied through the sacrifice of His Son.

Before we started our perfecting journey through Christ, we were in filthy rags, wholly unacceptable for presentation to Our Heavenly Father.  We must learn to be patient with the steps in our perfecting journey.  It takes time for the Holy Spirit to reveal each and every sin stain in our lives.  Each one requires confession and repentance so that it can be removed.

Duty has the ring of boredom and tediousness.  Duty is what we feel we must do and not what we want to do.  This is the “duty” of the flesh.

Duty unto God’s will is totally different.  Duty unto God may call for tedious work, but it is always filled with joy.  Duty unto God is never boring for His Spirit fills our being with the satisfaction of knowing that we are pleasing Him.  While duty unto the flesh may not lead to greater things, duty unto God always leads to greater fruit being borne in the life of the believer.

We are able to love God and love others because God loved us first.  He created us with a place in our hearts that desires love and has the capacity to give love.

When we fill the void in our hearts with the perfect love of Jesus Christ, our hearts overflow with love.  We cannot contain the love that Jesus gives us.  It flows from us continuously and in great abundance.  It cannot be stopped as long as the love of Jesus is the source.

The most delightful of all trips are those that are not bound by fixed plans.  They are the trips that end up delighting the heart by one unexpected joy after another.

These types of trips are quite rare in a world where we are so determined to pre-plan every moment of our lives.  We are fearful of what we might miss instead of being joyfully expectant of the unexpected.  When we choose to let God plan our way, the unexpected joys are continuous.

What would we give to be able to wake up every morning excited about the day?   What would we give up if it meant looking forward to every moment in our lives?  Surely, we would be willing to give up much for such a gift.  

How about giving life itself?  That is actually the only thing, once given up to the Lord, that will bring the kind of joy and peace that makes every moment of every day a blessing.  By giving up our old lives to God and accepting our new lives in Jesus Christ, we make the only trade that can bring abundance and joy in every moment of our lives.

Why should we seek things from God when He already promises to meet our every need?  The first part of the answer is easy for us to see.  Our petitions show Our Heavenly Father how much we trust in Him and confirm to Him our faith in His promises.  In the process, He delights in providing for us just as any good father delights in meeting the needs of his children.  

God calls us first and foremost to be obedient in the small things.  He promises that He will reward us with larger responsibilities and larger blessings, but only after we have been obedient in our day-to-day lives.  

God is watching to see if we serve Him by calling or helping friends in need, putting the concerns of others before our own and loving others as we love ourselves – even when we don’t feel like it.  In the process, we prove that we are rightly related to Our Heavenly Father and we consequently grow in our relationship with Him.  

God is totally responsible for the salvation of His beloved children.    
It is His desire that all will accept the saving grace offered through His Son.  His plan for salvation was completed when His Son shed His Blood, died on the Cross and resurrected into Heaven.

He will never ask us to “save” a single person.  He will, however, ask us to allow His Son to be presented to the world through the lives that we lead.  While He will not ask us to save anyone, He will ask us to help Him by living a life that will induce everyone that we come into contact with to seek the Lord that dwells within us.

Think how liberating it would be if your boss told you to do something, but added, “Do what I ask of you.  Do not worry about the results.  I will join you in your work and I will be responsible for delivering the outcome that I desire.  You will be richly rewarded for your perseverance in the task no matter what happens.”  

This, in essence, is where God wants us.  He wants us to serve Him without any concern of the outcome.  He wants us to express our faith in Him, knowing that He will fulfill what He asks us to do for Him.  He wants us to express our devotion to Him as our co-worker.  He wants us to give Him the honor and the glory in the end.

At some point, all men and women will fail one another.  Humans simply are not capable of standing with each other through all circumstances.  Our precious Lord Jesus, however, never fails us under even the direst of circumstances, not even the ones that we have created ourselves.  

We must learn to lead our lives with our focus steadfastly placed on Jesus.  He is the only standard bearer that is capable of supporting us through all tribulation.