HIS WILL IS TO TAKE SICKNESS AWAY AND FULFILL OUR DAYS

HIS WILL IS TO TAKE SICKNESS AWAY AND FULFILL OUR DAYS

When we read in the Bible that God says, “I will,” we need to understand that God is telling us what He desires and wants for us. He asks, “Do you want to know what My will is? This is it.” In the original texts, God jumps directly to the action, which we find after the “I will.” “Put none of these diseases on thee,” “Take sickness away,” and “Fulfill your days” are three phrases to focus on.

 

The first phrase is in Exodus 15:26: “I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” In this verse, “put” is a Hebrew word that means “place, set, bring to pass, lay upon.” Part of the meaning of this word is “consider.” God wouldn’t even consider laying any of these diseases on us. It wouldn’t even cross His mind! I found the following on some of these diseases:

 

God doesn’t put disease on us; it is His will that none afflict us. If they do, then there is a cure. Going to God and reminding Him of His will is certainly a good place to start. And especially since in the very same verse, He says: “I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

 

The next phrase to look at is in Exodus 23:25: “I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.”

The word “take” means “remove, to cause to depart, to come to an end, reject, abolish, pluck away, to turn off, behead, withdraw, and be without.” Those are powerful words, and those are what the Lord God, our Creator, wants to do to ANY sickness that attacks us from within or without.

 

The last verse to look at is Exodus 23:26: “The number of thy days I will fulfill.” We use the phrase, “they died before their time.” There is a time set for each of our lives, and the Bible says it is when the number of our days have been fulfilled. But let’s look at what that word “fulfilled” really means.

 

It’s the Hebrew word “male’,” which means accomplished, replenished, overflow, satisfied. It means fullness, abundance, complete. It means to fill any vacant place with abundance, like in Genesis 1:22, “fill the waters in the sea, or Exodus 40:34 “the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.” It’s also used of satisfying the soul, i.e., the desire, the hunger. It means to do anything fully or thoroughly. In Jeremiah 4:5 “male’” is translated, “cry out fully, i.e., strongly. All of these great attributes are God’s will for fulfilling our days here on earth.

 

The above three “I will” verses are great ones to focus on and repeat back to our Lord out loud. Slowly re-read the paragraphs above, pausing at each definition of God’s action word. Think about what the Lord is really saying to you. Put the verse in your own words, then pray like God told Isaiah to pray:

 

God says to Isaiah in chapter 43, verse 26: “Meet me in court! State your case and prove that you are right.” That’s the Contemporary English Version. The Amplified reads: “Remind me [of your merits with a thorough report]; let us plead and argue our case together. State your position, that you may be proved right.” And in the KJV: “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified” (Isa. 43:26). Sometimes I do like Mary did, and say to the Lord: “Be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).

 

 

If we can believe, we receive. “Jesus said unto him, ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’” (Mark 9:23).

 

WE’RE SO THANKFUL THAT GOD GAVE US THE GIFT OF THE LIVING CHRIST. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love, Carolyn

 

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WHEN GOD SAYS, "I WILL"

WHEN GOD SAYS, “I WILL”

When we say, “I will,” it’s often a weak or mundane response, like: “I will take a ride.” But when God says, “I will,” it’s much stronger and should be understood as: “THIS IS MY WILL; THIS IS WHAT I WANT.” I started in Genesis, looking up the usages of “I will.” But it wasn’t there when I looked for it in the original texts! Why not? God didn’t need to say, “I will.” The translators added it. God’s will was in the action word following the “I will.”

 

This seems to be consistent throughout the Bible. God doesn’t need a lead-up; He jumps right in with immediate engagement. I’ll show you by starting with the first place we find “I will” in the King James translation of Bible. (You men looking for the perfect wife will love this one.)

 

Genesis 2:18: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.’” When you drop the “I will,” you have a much more direct and powerful demand: MAKE, as in “make it happen; do it.” The original Hebrew word is “asah.” By the simple task of looking it up on your online Strong’s Concordance, you see that it means “to produce, to procure, to prepare, to put in order, appoint, ordain, bring about, to celebrate, and maintain!” WOW! What a great promise for any single man who admits to needing a help “meet for him.” God’s will is to MAKE it happen absolutely! God says it’s His will to perform, celebrate, and maintain it! It’s like He’s declaring to His creation: “Make it happen!”

 

You’ll see a further explanation of the word MAKE on the same Concordance website.  It’s “to create, to work a miracle, to make or produce it from oneself.” What a great and loving God. Three examples are how a cow makes milk, a tree makes fruit, and a grain makes flour. The product comes from the source. The explanation goes on to say that the things made are acquired by labor. It is prepared and made ready, like food. It is also trained and combed (not shaved). When we apply this to a human being, God is telling us that He is the one who produces this person. He prepares them; He labors in them to give them the best stuff. He trains them and combs them, bringing out the best, not cutting them off. When God picks a person for you, He does it right.

 

The above example is the first place we see God saying, “I will.” I also looked up Genesis 17:7, where God says to Abraham: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Galatians 3:29 says: “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” So, the many “I wills” God said to Abraham after Genesis 17:7 apply to us, too. I highly recommend looking some of them up.

 

But in this verse, the action word after “I will” in this verse is “ESTABLISH.” It’s a firm, strong, and sure declaration, like the MAKE in Genesis 2. In this verse, God is talking about a personal relationship between Him and us. When we look up the word “establish,” it means “to prove, to fulfill, to validate, to raise up, stir up, stand up, make clear, and strengthen.” God’s strong desire is a personal, organic relationship with us every day.

 

In next Sunday’s post, I will look at three very powerful “I will” verses in Exodus 15:26 and Exodus 23:25-26. The verses read:

 

“I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26).

 

“I will take sickness away from the midst of thee” (Ex. 23:25).

 

“The number of thy days I will fulfill” (Ex. 23:26).

 

Four steps - 1. We look up the “I will” verses in the King James Bible. 2. We jump right over the “I will” and go directly to the action God Himself declares. 3. We agree His action is our blessing. 4. We believe, and we receive with thanksgiving. And all the glory goes to God.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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COMFORT FROM OUR GOD

COMFORT FROM OUR GOD

My last name is Molica. It’s Italian, and it means the inside of Italian bread. That’s me, hard and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. I usually pay more attention to my hard, crusty, fighter nature. But God knows me well. He told me today is not the day for fighting and showed me some of His softer nature. God says: “I, even I, am he that comforteth you” (Is. 51:12). God wants to take good care of us if we let Him!

 

John 16:32 tells us we are never alone: “I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Psalm 23:1 tells us: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want [lack].”

 

David knew that God could be very tender: “Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me” (Ps. 40:11).

 

Jacob had to leave his country for a season. But God told him: “Behold, I am with you and will keep [careful watch over you and guard] you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this [promised] land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Gen. 28:15AMP).

 

God is kind. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart” (Ps. 34:18).

 

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds” (Ps 147:3).

 

He is “a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat” (Is. 25:4).

 

Jesus tells us that God is “my Father, and your Father” (John 20:17).

 

And Isaiah 25:8 tells us: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.”

 

It’s not healthy to be in constant fight mode. Let the Lord, your best friend ever, give you a little bit of His soft side today.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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CREATIVE MIRACLES

CREATIVE MIRACLES

Psalm 105:15 says: “Touch not my anointed; do my prophets no harm.” But verse 17 reads: “Joseph was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters: his soul came into iron.”  A contradiction? No. Verse 19 tells us: “Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him.” Timing is a vital part of what we need to understand about how God works. “Time” in the original text means the “certain time, the proper time, the fit time,” and “word” means “the answer, the promise, the notable deed.” There is a certain timing for every answer, every promise to come to pass, every notable deed. Receiving new body parts and healing old ones are notable deeds.

 

I’ve never been in a service where a person has received a new body part, never seen for myself a hand grow or an eye develop where there was none before, but I believed it, and I trust that others have witnessed this kind of miracle too. I found a verse that documents how this kind of creative miracle works. It’s like the verse that tells us God knew us before we were born. The following verse shows us that He also sees us completely healed and whole! Read it slowly and concentrate.

 

Psalm 139:16: “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book, all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

 

The King James Version has a remarkable note on the phrase “in continuance were fashioned.” The note goes: “Or, what days they should be fashioned.” 

 

God already saw the end from the beginning, and in His sight, the part was already there; But in our time, not necessarily from birth. Just like God saw Joseph as the Pharaoh’s right-hand man, placed there for Israel’s survival in a time of famine, but that didn’t happen right away. Joseph was in prison for a while first. People who are missing body parts or lacking the healing they need are in a type of prison as well. But in God’s sight, there is absolutely a day for the unperfect to be perfected. God always knew what He had for Joseph, and He always knows what wholeness in body, soul, and spirit He has for us, too. We must faithfully believe and trust.

 

Joseph’s trust and faithfulness sustained him, and God was able to bless Joseph and turn around Satan’s plan entirely, at the right time. 

 

The older I grow, the more peaceful I am with God’s timing and the more aggressive I am with taking down demonic forces. We must trust the Lord’s timing for the manifestation of our personal word (as in Psalm 105:19, our answer, promise, or notable deed). Confidence that the Lord will do what He’s promised keeps our hearts healthy and at peace so that, in the present, we can remain calm and sure ambassadors for our Lord. 

                                                                                                                                  

Love, Carolyn https://www.amazon.com/s?k=BOOKS+BY+cAROLYN+mOLICA&crid=16D4X7I4BV76Z&sprefix=books+by+carolyn+molic%2Caps%2C450&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

GOD'S INVOLVEMENT IN AMERICA'S THANKSGIVING

GOD’S INVOLVEMENT IN AMERICA’S THANKSGIVING:  

THE STORY OF SQUANTO – A TRUE AMERICAN HERO

God inspires actions and interaction with people across the entire world. He is magnificent, intricate with details, and miraculous in all His ways. Following are the events of the first American Thanksgiving. This version of the story comes from two Christian-based historical references, and is an example of how deeply our God is involved in our human history. I love this Thanksgiving story and like reading it every year. I think you’ll like it too.

 

Within the first year, half of the 102 Pilgrims who landed in America, died. Of the 50 who remained only 6 or 7 were strong enough to care for the others. William Bradford was their leader. He survived the first devastating winter of 1620 and went on to serve as governor of Plymouth for 33 years. From his book, Of Plymouth Plantation, comes his perception of what happened; this amazing story of how God intervened so that the Pilgrims could survive in this new land. He writes in Old English which is a bit hard to navigate, but with a little patience, you will be able to figure out all the words and content.

 

“About ye 16. Of March a certaine Indian came bouldly amongst them, and spoke to them in broken English, which they could well understand, but marveled at it… He tould them also of another Indian whos name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England & could speake better English then him selfe.

 

“Afterwards they (as many as were able) began to plant ther corne, in which servise Squanto stood them in great stead, showing them both ye maner how to set it, and after how to dress & tend it. Also he tould them excepte they got fish & set with it (in these old grounds) it would come to nothing, and he showed them yt in ye midle of Aprill they should have store enough come up ye brooke, by which they begane to build, and taught them how to take it, and wher to get other provisions necessary for them; all which they found true by trial & experience… And thus they found ye Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to blesse their outgoings & incomings, for which let his holy name have ye praise for ever, to all posteritie.”

 

Bradford added, “Squanto… was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.”

 

How God worked in Squanto’s life is really amazing. In 1605, a member of the Native American Patuxet tribe, Squanto was captured by an English explorer and taken to England where he learned to speak English. In 1614 Captain John Smith brought him back to America but he was captured again and taken to Spain to be sold as a slave.  Local Catholic friars rescued him and introduced him to Christianity.

 

He went back to England and got on a ship to his native America. But when he got home, he found that all of his tribe had been killed by a plague. The sudden death of the whole tribe scared the neighboring tribes and so they never went onto the property, making it available for the Pilgrims. Also because of the odd circumstances of the tribe’s annihilation, the other tribes didn’t attack the Pilgrims and Squanto facilitated a peace treaty that lasted over 50 years.

 

With Squanto’s help, the Pilgrims’ second winter was much better. To celebrate, Governor Bradford appointed a day of Thanksgiving and invited Squanto’s newly adopted tribe to come and give thanks to God with them. The chief and 90 of his men came and feasted. They ate deer, turkey, fish, lobster, eels, vegetables, corn bread, berries, pies and popcorn that the Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to make.  They competed in games of wrestling, shooting and running. The chief had such a good time he and his men stayed and celebrated for three days.

 

This was the first official American Thanksgiving.

 

If you’d like to read more about this time in America, I recommend America’s Providential History by Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell and William Bradford: Plymouth’s Faithful Pilgrim by Gary Schmidt.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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GUNPOINT

GUNPOINT

It was summer at the Bible college, and we were paired up for an outreach challenge. We had two days to get from our campus in Kansas down to an onion farm in Texas. We were sent out in teams of two. My partner was blind, so I took the lead in our venture. Neither of us had cars, so we had to hitchhike. An 18-wheeler stopped, and up we innocently climbed.

 

My partner folded his white cane and felt his way up into the back seat. I got in on the passenger side of the front seat.

 

The driver was a burly, unshaven man, around fifty-something, I guessed. He seemed okay at first. In a low, gravelly voice, he barked, “Where you kids goin’?”

 

“Down to harvest onions on a farm in Texas,” I answered.

 

“Uh huh, Uh huh.” He wasn’t much of a talker, so we drove on in uncomfortable silence. The A/C was on, but his forehead was red and sweaty and his brown hair was all greasy looking and sweaty too. He was getting fidgety, and I could hear him breathing louder and louder. His hand snaked down under the seat between us, and I saw the gun come up in slow motion. He pointed right at my face.

 

He drawled, “You’re gunna do whatever I want.”

 

I stiffened and gasped, holding my breath as my body froze for what seemed like forever. At that point I had no cognizance of my blind partner in the back seat. I was all alone, physically frozen in time, but my mind was racing frantically, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Help me!”

 

My body seemed to melt, but then I felt instantly strengthened from the inside as a palpable and powerful peace poured down over me and through my soul. I drew in a deep breath and slowly made myself as tall as I could in the seat, as I slowly turned sideways in the seat to face my aggressor.

 

My action obviously confused him, and he turned a little frantic himself, trying to hold the gun in my face and watch me and the road at the same time.

 

I spoke with loud and clear authority, “You put that down right now in the name of Jesus Christ!” He did it, obeying my words like a robot. “Now pull over.” He did. I knew he didn’t want to let us go, but under the authority of the Lord, it was like he was a prisoner to my words, and he couldn’t do anything but obey. “Now we’re getting out!” And we did.

 

Even as I write this, I’m a little amazed that it was real, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus was in the midst of a group of Pharisees who wanted to kill him, and He walked right through. “They up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:59).

 

In another life-threatening situation, Jesus stopped a raging storm. “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:37,39).

 

When Paul and Silas went to Philippi to preach the gospel, the magistrates “thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks” (Acts 16: 24). But after Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises, a miracle happened. They were immediately able to walk right out of that prison. (Acts 16:24-34).

 

In John 14:27, Jesus said: “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

 

We can’t always avoid trouble, but we CAN walk through it with Jesus Christ as our Lord. When that man pointed a gun at my face, I cried out to Jesus, and instantly, he gave me his peace, strength, confidence, and the exact words to speak to attain my and my partner’s freedom.

 

Jesus lived on earth as a man. He knows how to do it right. As our Lord and leader, he often guides us away from trouble. But if we get into trouble, he will do amazing things to get us out. He loves us, and we can trust him.

 

Reading about his life in the gospels, we learn that he could get around and through every kind of situation, and we can, too, with his help.

 

Let’s pray to get to know him better, trust him, and love him even more.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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PSALM 51:6 - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

PSALM 51:6: “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?”

The other night, I asked the Lord what I should read before bed. “Psalm 51.” I love that Psalm, but there are verses that I don’t fully understand. I know that happens to you, too. But there are easy resources online for doing a quick study or even an extended one. So, I decided to take a closer look and do a word study on verse six:

 

“Behold, you [God] desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part, you [God] will make me know wisdom.”

 

When we look up the words in their original language, we can better understand what the verse really means. It’s a way to meditate on a scripture and let it make a more profound impact, sinking into our hearts, because we take the time to focus on it longer than the time it takes just to read it and move on.

 

David says: “You, God, desire truth in the innermost part of me.” The first word I want to look at is “desire.” The Hebrew word “chaphets” means “delight in, take pleasure in, like.” But there’s more I wouldn’t have known about unless I looked it up: In the definition of “desire” is the idea of bending down toward someone, inclining yourself toward them. So this tells me God actually takes so much pleasure in us having truth that He bends down toward us, delighting in when He sees truth in us.

 

So, what is this “truth” God likes bending down to see in us? The word “truth” is the Hebrew word “emeth,” meaning all kinds of amazing things. Among them are: “faithfulness, reliability, trustworthiness, peace and stability.” But again, there is more to it. This is “truth that is spoken,” “truth as it pertains to divine instruction,” “truth in ethical knowledge,” and “truth in judgment.” So, God delights in leaning down toward us to smile at our faithfulness, our trustworthiness, His truth that we are speaking, our receiving the truth of His divine revelations to us, doing the right thing when we have ethical decisions to make, and truth in good judgment.

 

Where does God see these wonderful truths in us? The verse says He sees them in our “inward parts.” The Hebrew word for “inward parts” is “tuwchah,” and it means “the seat of the mind and thoughts.” In other words, these truths are not just flighty thoughts off the top of our heads but come from a deeper place in our minds. If someone took the time to seriously ask you: “What do you really believe?” you would go to this part of your heart and mind and say with the most conviction: “This is what I believe.”

 

God bends down lovingly toward us to see if we have embraced His truths and if they live steadfast and unmovable in the depths of our hearts.

 

The rest of Psalm 51:6 tells us what God does when He sees His truth in our hearts:

 

“In the hidden part, you [God] will make me know wisdom.”

 

The “hidden part” is one Hebrew word, “satam,” which is the ”secret part, storehouse, treasury.” The word “know” is the Hebrew word “yada,” which means to “see and know, to be sure of, discover and know by experience, feel, understand, and be able to teach.”

 

Then, the final word, “wisdom,” is “hakma” in Hebrew. Wisdom is always about applying knowledge. However, the definition of wisdom here is specific to certain areas.

 

It is defined as ‘wisdom in administration, prudence in religious affairs, wisdom in ethical matters, shrewdness or cleverness, and skill in war (both spiritual and physical).’ One example is Matthew 10:16: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (AMP).”

 

In studying the words used in Psalm 51:6, we find that our loving God is inclining Himself down toward us. He delights in seeing what He’s taught us, dwelling in the deepest parts of our hearts. When He finds them there, He can attach the blessing of discovering, experiencing, understanding, feeling, and being able to teach, like David, excellent skill in war (physical and spiritual), administrative skills in all categories of life, cleverness, prudence in religious matters, and godly ways to handle ethical issues as well.

 

Studying the words God gave David to speak in Psalm 51:6 really helps us see the bigness of God’s heart of love toward us. He bends down to us, desiring to see His gift in the innermost part of our hearts and seeing us discovering and knowing by experience His wisdom in ethical matters, religious matters, and skills of spiritual warfare.  

 

Studying a verse is easy to do online. Just go to the link below, put a word or scripture reference in the search box, choose the Bible version, and click the arrow. Then click where it says “STRONGS.” That gives you the option of looking at the definitions of the original words. I found in this resource that I had to use the KJV or the NASB, but there may be other sources if you prefer reading a different version.

 https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/psa/51/6/ss1/t_conc_529006

 

Try this, even if you only look up a couple of words. I think you will really be blessed.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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TALKING TO JESUS

TALKING TO JESUS

Several years ago, I realized I didn’t know Jesus as well as I wanted to. I’d been taught a lot about relating to and praying to God, but Jesus somehow got bypassed. I’d been taught that it was Christ in us but not how to connect with Him as a real person. I couldn’t help questioning, “If He is our brother, shouldn’t we be able to talk to Him? We don’t have to go through our parents to talk to our human brothers, so why should it be different with Jesus?”

 

In Acts 2:36, we’re told that God “made the same Jesus, both Lord, and Christ.” Hebrews 13:8 tells us it’s “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” We read in the Gospels that when people came to Jesus, they called Him “Lord.” When the disciples talked to Him both before and after the resurrection (John 20:26-21:25), they also called Him “Lord.” Should we do any less?

 

The Greek word for “Lord” here means “supreme in authority; by implication, Master (as a respectful title).”

 

According to Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

 

I was born again when I was about eight years old. But it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I consciously realized I wasn’t doing such a great job at being my own master. I went back to Jesus, confessed that I was a mess and needed Him to rescue me and be my Lord in guiding me in life. He was here on earth and experienced everything we’ll ever face, so He knows how to handle every situation, and he can guide us through. But sometimes, we slip up a little in that category. We direct all our prayers and communication to God Almighty and leave Jesus out.

 

I was reading Acts 7 about Stephen: “And they stoned Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (v. 59). In the King James Version of the Bible, whenever a word is in italics, like the word “God” in this verse, it means that the translators added it. Since the word “God” was added to the original text, we can take it out, and the verse reads: “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” And guess who was standing right there? Saul of Tarsus!

 

“The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul” (v. 58). Saul heard Stephen speak to Jesus.

 

Later, when Saul was on his way to Damascus, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), a light from heaven shone, and Saul fell to the earth, and everyone there heard a voice. When Saul asked, “‘Who art thou?’ The Lord said, “‘I am Jesus’” (v. 5). When Jesus Christ spoke to Saul, it didn’t surprise him at all because he had been there when Stephen talked with Jesus.

 

When Saul got to Damascus, the Lord Jesus told a regular disciple, Ananias, to talk to Saul.

 

“And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 9:17).

 

Isn’t that awesome?! Many more verses in the Epistles document a real and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians: “Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” (1 Cor. 9:1). Peter writes: “Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me” (2 Pet. 1:4).

 

I’m not trying to direct anyone away from praying to God Almighty, our Father, and the kind of relationship we have with Him. I’m saying that our relationship with our Lord Jesus can also grow.

 

I learned a long time ago that my secular work is directed and orchestrated by Jesus Christ. That realization wasn’t an instantaneous revelation. It didn’t come in a dream or audible announcement or anything flashy. I prayed to God about it; then, one day, I just knew in my heart that Jesus was the one in charge of my work. He would supply the jobs and money I needed to live, pay the bills, and do what I needed to do.

 

Whenever I was out of work, I consciously went to Jesus, expecting direction as to what’s next, and I thanked Him for what He was arranging. In this category of my life, I know that God wants me to trust in the directions of His son Jesus Christ.

 

First Timothy 1:12: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.”

 

I believe there is a wonderful balance in our spiritual lives: things that God handles with us, things that our Lord Jesus handles, and things the holy spirit teaches too. We have all the help we need at our fingertips, closer even than breath itself.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

This preach letter is part of Volume 2 of my book series WINGS: A Journey in Faith. I write books that can be used as spiritual workbooks, with 52 anecdotal stories showing how to apply Biblical principles to daily life and grow into the spiritually sharp person we’ve always wanted to be. At the end of each story, there are questions to ponder or talk about, to personalize your experience with the message. The following are the ones for this story:

.

1. In addition to praying to God as your Father, do you talk to Jesus Christ as your Lord? How often would you say?

2. Name three or four Bible figures who spoke with Jesus after He was raised from the dead. Document this with scriptures relating to these encounters.

3. If you haven’t talked much with the Lord Jesus, name some possible ways you might begin to acknowledge Him more often in your daily life.

 

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THE PRESENT

THE PRESENT

“Blah blah blah blah blah.” My best friend Jane was talking, but my mind was racing ahead on something else, and I didn’t hear a word she said. Some of us have the habit of letting our minds go ahead of where our bodies are. We’re already thinking about the next thing, and our focus strays from the present moment. Sometimes, we get lazy and let our minds wander off. But this isn’t a good thing; it isn’t considerate of others. And if we want to get good at hearing from the Lord, we must practice listening better to people, especially those we care about.

First, John 4:20 says: “For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Listening does take some real effort, especially if you know you’re not that good at it. People want to be heard. They want to have people interested in their lives. Listening is an act of love.

 

There are more verses in the Bible about God listening to us than verses saying we need to listen to Him. That’s because God is love, and He’s an expert at listening. If we want to be more like Him, we have to want to be good listeners.

 

Here are a couple of ideas that can help:

1. As soon as you can, after a conversation, go over the conversation in your mind and try to write down what the other person said. If you know you’ve missed some things, apologize and try to remember to ask them again later. Most people will forgive you and be glad you made an effort to ask again.

2. If you ask a question and get a complicated answer, or you aren’t clear on the person’s answer, repeat it back to the person to see if you got it right.

These are two straightforward and practical ways to build listening skills with people. But we can also use these with the Lord. If you feel He’s telling you something, write it down. If you’re unclear on what He’s saying to you, repeat it back to Him. He’ll let you know if you got it. Remember, He loves you. He’s a great listener and wants us to be great at it too. “MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE” (John 10:27).

 

To live in the moment is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present!

“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:9).

Love, Carolyn

 

Are you wanting to live a more spiritual life?  I have a variety of books and booklets on living a more spiritual Christian life. You’ll find the keys to receiving your heart’s deepest desires. 😊

 

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ANGELS, DREAMS, SIGNS, AND WONDERS

ANGELS, DREAMS, SIGNS, AND WONDERS

How do you “hear” from the Lord? Have you ever had an angel come to give you a message? Does the Lord sometimes give you a message through a dream or an open vision? How about a wonder? The Lord has many ways to get our attention, and it’s good to remind ourselves of the different ways He’s communicated with us in the past. But if you are wishing that He would talk to you more, I have a suggestion.

 

I’ve found it helpful to go to the Bible and check out the various ways He’s communicated to others. It gives us an idea of what we might pray for and believe to receive. Like it says in Matthew 7:8: “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” And when I am claiming something from the scripture, I like to follow it with the words of Mary, the mother of Jesus: “Be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).

 

Today, I want to take you to the story of Gideon. God used a combination of ways to communicate with Gideon, so if we pay attention, we’ll learn a lot about how our Lord is willing to communicating with us too.

 

The people of God had turned away from Him, leaving themselves open to oppression. When their way of living was demolished, they finally turned back to God and cried out for help. It’s recorded in Judges 6 - 9. For brevity’s sake, I won’t go over every verse, but I hope you’ll read it for yourself as soon as you can.

 

“And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them” (Judg. 6:3).

 

“They came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord” (vv. 5-6)

 

Enter, an angel from God, to begin the deliverance of His people:

 

“And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak” (v. 11) “And said [to Gideon], ‘Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites” (v. 14). 

 

This next verse is important for us to remember for later when God gives Gideon a message from a dream.

 

“And he [Gideon] said unto him, ‘Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house’” (v. 15)

 

Then Gideon asks God to give him a sign that all of this about him being a hero is for real:

 

“And the Lord said unto him, ‘Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, ‘If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. (vv. 16-17).

 

Up to this point, Gideon thinks that this person who came to him is actually a flesh and blood man who is delivering a message from God. Gideon wants to know if the message is really from God, so he asks for some kind of a sign. He then tells the “man” to wait while he goes and prepares a meal for him. When he brings the meal back out to the person he thought was a man, a very interesting thing happens:

 

“The angel of God [who Gideon thought was a man], said unto him, ‘Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes.

 

“Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord” (vv. 20-22)

 

So, Gideon got his prayer answered and God gave him the first sign that he asked for. We need to realize that God is more than willing to give us whatever it is that we need, to carry out our missions for Him. We may be the ones who pray the perfect prayer for our neighborhood, or we may be the perfect person to speak to the parent/teacher group. Whatever it is that God is urging us to do, we can do it, but God never expects us to do it alone. He will give us an angel, a sign, a dream, a wonder, whatever it takes to help us to be the heroes He’s called us to be.

 

Then later in the story, it’s time to actually go into battle. All the Israelites are enthused and ready to go for it, but God tells Gideon no. God can’t let everyone do the fighting because He knows they are too egotistical.

 

“And the Lord said unto Gideon, ‘The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, ‘Mine own hand hath saved me’” (Judg. 7:2).

 

God showed Gideon how to minimize the number of soldiers from the 10,000 he had, down to only 300!

 

“And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude” (7:12).

 

Gideon must have been terrified at this point, or at least hesitant about taking only 300 soldiers against a huge multitude of enemies. And this is where God sends Gideon a message through another man’s dream.

 

“And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, ‘Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 

 

When Gideon heard this man recite his dream, Gideon knew instantly that it was another message from God for him. Remember how Gideon responded to when the angel first came to him? He said: “My family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judg. 6:15). Barley for the Israelites was considered poor men’s bread. So when Gideon heard this dream, he knew that the cake of barley bread that would take down the Midianites was none other than he himself and his mere troop of 300 men. Finally, Gideon was totally convinced.

 

“And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, ‘Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian” (7: 13-15).

  

Gideon and his 300 men went on to defeat the enemy and there was peace in the land for the next forty years.

 

We see with Gideon that God was willing to communicate in many different supernatural ways. The Lord is no less compassionate toward us. We’re all heroes like Gideon in His eyes, and all worthy of angel visits, signs, miracles, wonders, dreams, and visions, all to the glory of our God and to bless us as individuals.

 

You’ll really enjoy reading Judges 6-9 for the whole story.

 

Love, Carolyn 

 

I have a variety of books and booklets on living a more spiritual Christian life. I know you can find something great that will resonate with you. 😊

 

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COUNT TO TEN AND BE MORE CHRIST-LIKE

 

COUNT TO TEN AND BE MORE CHRIST-LIKE

I was sitting quietly in a coffee shop with my laptop, notebook, and Bible, totally engaged in a word study, when out of my peripheral vision, a nightmarish face invaded my space. It startled me, and I grabbed my purse from the empty chair next to me and slid it onto the floor by my feet. I had earplugs in so I couldn’t hear what the grizzly-looking man was mumbling. A few moments passed, and I heard Jane’s clear voice coming from the next table: “We’re working here. We don’t have time to talk.” The man angrily mumbled something about the Bible and got up and left in a matter of minutes.

 

Later on, Jane and I talked about it. She told me she was ready to fry the guy with her words the minute she saw him approach me, but she’s been practicing counting to ten before she speaks. It was amazing. Her quiet, honest words only got one low, grumbled complaint before the nightmare man left.

 

I thought about a lesson I’d heard as a child: “When you get angry, count to ten before you speak.” Jane counts “one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, etc.” I learned it as: “one dimension, two dimension, etc.” I think it works with any three-syllable word, but the point is, it does work.

 

My tendency is to sit there and boil on the inside until I can hardly stand it and can’t concentrate anymore. Either that, or I fire off some snide remark out loud or under my breath.

 

Not Jane. She counted to ten and calmly and clearly told the man we didn’t have time for conversation. And it was true. I was studying for an article, and she was working on promotions.

 

There are several verses in the Bible that say God is slow to anger. We are to “be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1).

 

Nehemiah 9:17 says this: “Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.”

 

Counting to ten is one way to make sure we don’t fly off the handle in rage, but instead, be more like God, slow to anger. By calming ourselves, we give the Spirit a chance to work, instead of being led by emotion.

 

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had a hot temper (maybe partly my Sicilian background?), but the truth is that no matter where it came from, only God can really change those built-in character bents. Unlike one who “flies off the handle,” the Lord is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Ps. 103:8).

 

Psalm 145:8 tells us: “The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.” Anyone who knows the old Jane, knows she can cut to the bone and turn a live person to sand (figuratively) with her words. But her answer to the scary man in the coffee shop was full of compassion. She spoke the words calmly and straightforward. After counting to ten, she had no anger, just truth.

 

Solomon's wisdom on slowing down our wrath is found in Proverbs 15:18: “A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.”

 

And Solomon goes on to say, “Better to be slow to anger than to be a mighty warrior, and one who controls his temper is better than one who captures a city” (Prov. 16:32). These are some powerful words.

 

Is it worth it to count to ten to calm our anger? Definitely! It is God’s will that we do it, as we can see from these scriptures.

 

In the Amplified version of Colossians 3:1-3, the Apostle Paul admonishes us as Christians: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. [We’ll be there soon.] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For [in reality] ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” He goes on to say in verse 5: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.” Anger is among the things he lists.  

 

If you know any other way to be slow to anger, God bless you. For now, since I’ve seen the amazing true results in Jane, I’m going with “one dimension, two dimension, three dimension, four dimension, five dimension, six dimension . . . . With the Lord’s help, we can definitely change some of those bad habits from our past.

 

A few days after the first incident, the same man walked by Jane in the same coffee shop, and the demon in him audibly growled at her! But Jane had no fear, and the man left. I pray that one day, this man has the same experience as the man of the Gadarenes in Mark 5:15: “ And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind.” And though we were not led to minister to this man at the time, I totally believe it is possible for him to be delivered and made completely whole. All things are possible with God.

 

One dimension, two dimension . . .

 

Love, Carolyn

 

I have a variety of books and booklets on contemporary Christian living. I know you can find something that will resonate with your life and heart during these challenging times.

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