Brennan McPherson

Well – I certainly have failed to keep up with this “weekly devotional,” haven’t I? But there’s reasons for this, and I think it’s time I explain.

This year pretty much destroyed me. It was a rough year in many ways that culminated in me losing my brother to cancer while in the middle of writing Abram.

At this point, now that I’ve gotten the book out, I just don’t have the emotional, physical, or creative capacity to continue as I have these past few years. I need a break. A long break.

I do plan on finishing the Fall of Man series, which will cover the entire book of Genesis.

But when? I don’t know.

At the moment, not writing feels healthy. Whenever I try to write, I feel like a runner with a broken leg trying to hike a mountain.

It would be different if I wrote full-time. But at the moment, my day job takes all my creative capacity and energy. And, since I work at a ministry, I have no desire to quit, or to switch to writing novels full-time.

Rest assured that even if I don’t write a novel for a while, I’m still working on a lot of creative projects in other mediums.

For example, I finished this project this year at my day-job: https://newbelievercourse.com/

I have to admit, I’m more excited about the ministry projects I’m currently working on than my novels. So, as those projects come along, and as I get back into the swing of writing (after recovering), I’ll give updates here.

Just know it will probably be a while.

I’m sorry for not keeping up the weekly devotional. I’m sorry for failing to even make any progress on the audiobook for Abram, let alone the next book in the series.

I am very thankful for the support you all have shown me. You have made it possible for me to continue writing, and encouraged me in my growth. I’m praying for blessings on you, and hoping that I can get back to writing again soon.

Blessings in Christ,

-Brennan McP

Hi guys and gals! I’m writing to let you know that I’ve decided to take a short break from publishing the weekly devotional.

I know I just did a short break not that long ago. And I was hoping to continue strong!

So. . . why the break?

Most of you already know that I write books (and do all the publishing nonsense, and write this devotional) in the in-between hours.

I have a day-job, where I work full-time, and I have a young family.

My life, in the past, has at times become fairly unbalanced, because I’ve let work become too all-consuming.

In the last two years, I’ve made a lot of positive changes to get a better balance between work and the rest of life.

My hope has been to be focused first on my personal faithfulness to Christ, and second on being there for my family.

I don’t know why this has been a consistent challenge. But it has.

My family is going through a period of fairly intense suffering, so right now I feel compelled to spend more time with them. And, since I’m not going to quit my full-time job, that means I have to slow down my writing activity.

I think I will still be able to publish Abram, my next full-length novel, in April, because I’m nearly finished. And it’s the longest, and I think the best, book yet. I worked very hard to put much more into this one than into previous books. More research, more depth to the characters, better writing, etc.

As pressures mounted last year, and as they continue to mount in 2021, I’ve been pondering this section of 1 Corinthians a lot, and felt it as a challenge:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Elsewhere, Scripture also tells us:

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” – 1 Timothy 5:8

Seems to make it clear that being there for your family physically, emotionally, and spiritually, is a big deal. And it makes me feel challenged to do better for my family.

I know that writing can be used powerfully. Yet sometimes I have felt that the enormous amount of hours I’ve had to pour into it have included a bit of “boxing the air.”

Sometimes, there are just more important responsibilities.

The work we do to help those we don’t know matters greatly.

But if we abandon our families when they are in need, or shirk our responsibility to them, what does that say of us?

What does that say of Christ?

PRAYER

Lord, give us wisdom to know how to live in a way that honors and pleases you. Don’t let us find ourselves disqualified at the end of the race! Instead, lead us by your Spirit. Give us clarity, by your Word, and give us the strength to faithfully obey your commands and advice. Amen.

I hate cancer.

It grows in darkness. Reacts negatively to light. Exists only as a perversion—dysfunction so desperate that it forgets its rightful place in the body and breaks out, multiplies, and spreads.

It inserts itself into things that function perfectly well. Then overwhelms, consumes, and eventually replaces it.

In its wake, it leaves death.

I can’t help but think, as I watch cancer consume my brother, that it’s a mirror of the evil inside us.

Every time the word cancer hovers over our loved ones, fear punctures our hearts.

What’s strange is that, because sin is everywhere, we rarely bat an eye at the fact that for each of us, our soul-cancer is terminal.

Grappling with my brother’s illness has forced me to consider, “How do I live now?”

This week, the capital was broken into by a politically motivated mob.

The new year came, and I was hoping that with it would come more peace.

Because last year, because of political riots, we saw cities (our own!) burning. Set aflame by anarchists bent on personal gain, while politicians stood by and encouraged it.

Horrific violence has come from the left. Heinous violence has also come from the right.

When surrounded by enemies on both sides, who do we put our trust in? When all those who are supposed to save us turn out to be immoral goons, who remains trustworthy?

Thank God, we have the person of Jesus and the words of Scripture to give us stability and courage in the midst of upheaval.

Because Scripture says, “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.” – Psalm 47:7-8

That means that from Trump’s inauguration, successes, and failures, to Biden’s future inauguration, successes, and failures, God is the one truly pulling the strings.

Nothing that will happen in the next days, weeks, months, years, will surprise him, although it will almost certainly surprise us.

And no matter what happens, none of it is outside his ability to bend it all to his good purposes.

Yet still, through history, he has encouraged his followers to pray for peace, for a quiet life that is honorable in every way, and for relief from persecution and suffering.

Part of the way he gets us there is through his commands to pray for those in power, especially the ones we disagree with.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – Matthew 5:43-48

So, after we pray for those in power, and for peace and protection and comfort in difficult times, what do we do?

Well, he tells us through the words of the Apostle Paul to:

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. … Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” – 1 Corinthians 13:5-11

How do we aim for restoration? By acting in ways that build bridges, rather than burning them! By praying for one another, by seeking to understand others’ perspectives, and by seeking to align ourselves completely to God, so that by default we will agree, because we will hold to the fundamentals of what is most important to God himself.

When we live in such humility and open love toward others, we will be able to live in peace, because we will no longer have any reason for violence.

Surrender and conformity to the Gospel is the way God has chosen to reform the world. This is why God is the only hope we have in this life to experience a portion of the unity, joy, love, and purity we will have in the next life. This is why he tells us to make living in conformity to the Gospel, and sharing about God with others, our main goal in life.

We will never excise the evil from humans by campaigning for political reform. And since we only have so many years of life, the Spirit constrains us to share the good news of what will excise the evil from humans.

By living in that way, we live by trust in him. Confident that he will change the world through our small obedience and surrender. That he has the power to pull back the veil of darkness that seems to be sweeping our country. Not giving into fear, but rather letting him strengthen us to live worthy of the calling he’s put on our lives as his children, not because of any good in us, but because he loved us and earned our love and obedience in response.

That’s called faith.

And faith shakes nations.

Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, strengthen us to live the Gospel, and to share it with others! Keep our minds and tongues from getting entangled in hopeless political squabbles. Instead, deliver us into the freedom you have for us, in your power and endless life as the risen Lord. Encourage our hearts. Comfort our sorrow. Help us to trust you more than we distrust the evil men and women who are a part of leading our country. And we pray for them, that you will work in their hearts, and bring them to repentance and to dependence on you! Guide them into making choices that work for your glory. Amen.

DIG DEEPER

For one week, don’t let yourself watch the news or get into any political arguments with anyone. Just walk away, and instead focus your mind on the trustworthiness, strength, and consistency of God, and the hope he promises us of freedom in this life, and a new life of perfect purity in the next.

Next week, we’ll finally resume the (mostly) weekly Sabbath Selah devotional schedule. But first, with 2020 gone, I wanted to offer up a prayer for the new year.

PRAYER FOR 2021

Jesus, thank you for sustaining us through 2020. Through everything and everyone we lost. Through the pains and the joys we gained.

You have been faithful. You have never once abandoned us.

Now, as we begin 2021, we dedicate our hearts and lives to you anew.

Because what promise do we have that 2021 will not add sorrow onto sorrow?

Yet you know what 2021 holds. And we can face it all, so long as you give us the strength to.

So, we surrender completely to you, and ask you to purify and strengthen us this year to overcome whatever difficulties you bring us to in your perfect wisdom.

We know that if we trust in ourselves, we will fail. Yet if we live completely dependent on you, we will not be disappointed!

Thank you for how you have grown us. Thank you for how you will continue to grow us this new year.

We trust that you have chosen us to be yours, and that no one can snatch us from your hands.

We trust that you are faithful to complete the good work you have begun in us.

We praise you because you are the God of all comfort. You weep when we weep, and comfort us in our affliction.

Because you faced this world, and experienced all our joys and sorrows, so that you can fight for us with mercy and gentleness. And whatever you fight, you overcome! So you are our complete confidence for our lives.

Be our joy all this year. You are the reward we look to! You are the one constant in our life.

You are faithful when everyone else is unfaithful.

You are strong when everyone else is weak.

You are good when everyone else is evil.

You are alive forever. And you promise that if we live by trust in you, you will give us life with you forever.

This is how you have become our future reward as well as our current hope, deliverance, and joy!

From the beginning to the end, our lives depend on you, your promises, and your gifts.

Everything we have, you gave us. From our next breath, to our final home. And so you have every right to take something away, or to give us something new.

Yet you are kind, gentle, and merciful in all your ways! And we love you for it.

Be our pleasure. Make us content in you, regardless of circumstance.

Keep our hearts focused on you, and keep us from becoming discouraged!

In all things, be glorified in our lives! Show yourself powerful to save and to deliver, to purify and to strengthen, to give joy and to satisfy.

So that many more will surrender their lives to you! Because you are worthy of everything!

Amen.

Today is going to be a bit different.

Rather than a devotional, I wanted to give a few updates. 

Although it may seem like I’ve been pretty inactive (especially because 2020 has felt infinitely long – RIGHT?!), with only one book released this year (EDEN), a lot more has been in the works.

In addition to writing Eden, I wrote a screenplay that will never see the light of day because the theaters died this year (thanks COVID), and I’m nearing 300 pages written in Abram (looking at an April launch). God willing, the next book, Isaac, should be out late in 2021, which will make 2021 a bit more exciting.

But what I’m most pumped about is a very large project I’ve been working on at my day job.

A free, world-class video course on the Gospel for adults and for children! We’re on track to have the entire project translated, dubbed (meaning narrated in a new language), and available in about 15 languages by the end of 2021.

The project’s goal is to give new Christians a heart-level understanding of the Gospel, and the tools they need to start getting spiritually nourished, and engaged with a local church, to grow in their faith and faithfulness to Christ.

Yes, there are lots of Gospel presentations out there. But this course solves a slew of unique problems, and sprang out of our frustration and inability to find anything similar to serve an international audience.

These digital resources will be offered for free to countless missionaries, pastors, ministries, and individuals around the globe.

Most pastors internationally are bi-vocational, have nearly no margin, virtually no training, and limited education. But God has chosen them, and they have faithfully answered his call to minister to people and start churches.

God uses these men and women mightily. But because their congregants lack access to many of the simple materials that we take for granted, their job is made more difficult, and they hunger for materials to support them. This video series will solve some real issues for many of them.

Yet all of us have opportunities to minister to people around us.

Because of this, I believe that this free video course will be useful to many of you, as well.

Not only do I think many of you will enjoy the video course purely because the Gospel is so central a focus in our lives, but I think that you will find it a useful tool to go through with your Bible study groups, or to send to your friends who are seeking to understand Christianity better, or to give to new believers who want a next-step.

So, when it’s ready in the Spring of 2021, I’ll send you the course.

What 2020 has reminded us all of is that one day, our bodies will stop working. Our family will be torn away. Our possessions will rot. And we’ll be standing in front of our Maker, alone, and everything we did in life will be weighed in the scales of eternity. I don’t want him disappointed with the results.

I know I’ve done a poor job of getting a devotional out each week. I’m trying to not lose focus, but apparently I’m bad at that. One of these days, I’ll figure out how to hold myself to a schedule like a real adult. I’m working on it!

Thank you so much for your support. Honestly, you’ve made this year a wonderful year in writing-land.

Eden has sold fantastically well (nearly 180 reviews/ratings on Amazon! – and to think that because of modern technology, I’m able to do this all on my own and from my couch – it’s mind blowing!). The feedback from you all has been incredibly encouraging. You’ve been a blessing to me. So, I’m praying that God will bless you, as well.

-Brennan McP