New Desire had a women’s conference at New Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Hodges, AL this past weekend. Their theme for the weekend was “Branded for Christ.” They were coming from Galatians 6:17 which says, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Brenda taught us how that when we are saved by grace through faith, that we then bear the marks of Jesus Christ. She gave an illustration about going to the cattle barn and picking out the right, healthy cattle and what a farmer looks for when he’s searching through the cattle.  Here are some of the qualities he looks for:

1.  Productivity/longevity
2.  Their ability to reproduce
3.  Nutrition
4.  Healthy
5.  Whether or not they are thriving or just surviving
6.  Performance-turning forage into muscle requires high capacity to turn into meat

When I heard her start teaching all of this, I immediately started jotting down how I could turn all of this into Biblical principles. The questions I started asking myself were the following:

1.  Am I being productive for Christ?
2.  Am I a part of the reproductive cycle for Christ? Am I able to witness and produce new Christians?
3.  Am I nurturing my mind and soul with the Word of God?
4.  Am I a healthy Christian? Do I put in all good and no bad?
5.  Am I thriving (excited about the Lord and doing all I can do) or do I just do enough to get by or survive?
6.  Is my performance what it should be to turn my muscle (knowledge) into meat for the Master’s use?

All of these questions ran through my head. I had to do some major examining! It wasn’t pleasant to answer all these questions and check myself out! The Great Physician had to give me some orders on how to make myself healthier, more nutritious, more productive, etc.

We were also taught that the Brahmas hold water in a pouch on their necks as a reservoir. I kept thinking, “Man, this is the way we Christians do. We only go to the water of life once per week. That’s when we enter the doors of the church and we want to drink from the pastor’s long, hard study time and store up for the whole week. We nurture off of what God has given him and think that’s enough to last us.” Well that is SO WRONG! By mid-week we are thirsting to death. That water doesn’t last without replenishing it in the Word daily. We should not depend on someone else to water us; we should be willing to go to the well ourselves on a daily basis to fill our souls with the Living Water….Our Lord JESUS CHRIST!

Let me know what you think about this. God has really burned a desire in my heart to fill my pail each day until it just over flows with His love, mercy, grace, comfort, guidance, etc.

In Christ,

Brooke