Treacherous Swim - Beneath the Veil no.29

It was a beautiful San Francisco day. I threw my air mattress in the back of my baby blue VW bug and took off for an adventure. I drove to an abandoned beach several miles north of Sausalito, on the San Francisco Bay. What seemed like a great idea didn’t turn out so well.

Looking out over the water I saw a small island about a mile or so away. Being a good swimmer I figured I could get there and back pretty easily.

I already had my suit and sneakers on, so I just needed to blow up the air mattress and off I went. The water was cool and refreshing and though the island was a little further than it looked, I got there with no trouble. The swim back was a different story.

After taking a leisurely nap on what I felt was my very own island, I got back in the water and headed for shore. I paddled and kicked, fully expecting to have an easy time at it. Quite the contrary.

I kept at it much longer than I should have. I guess I didn’t realize I wasn’t really making progress. In fact, I was being pushed by the current further and further from my destination. I was also getting really tired from the kicking and paddling. Never mind that there were probably sharks around, but I wasn’t thinking about sharks. I was thinking about what I saw in the distance.

The shore line took a sharp turn about a mile away. I knew if I didn’t make shore before that turn, I’d be swept toward the Golden Gate bridge and out to sea. Then it dawned on me what to do.

I quit trying to swim against the current, but started to go with the current and swim diagonally toward the shore and do my best to make it before that turn. I was scared, but I had determination and a prayer.

I made it. Just barely. It was a long walk back to my car. I had time to reflect and thank God for rescuing me. I’d unwisely gotten myself into real danger and He saved me.

I often wonder how many times He’s rescued me when I didn’t even know it! Every day I’m thankful for the life I have because of Him.

Love, Carolyn

SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION IN ALL OF US

Our family was camping and we were getting ready to go swimming. I was in the tent changing into my bikini. I started to pull up the straps of my top when my dad opened the flap.

“Get out!” I screamed. He snapped back, “You haven’t got anything anyway.” I was devastated. How could he say such a thing? I had a pretty nice body for a thirteen year old, but his degrading comeback hit me like a hammer.

He dropped the flap down quickly and left. The End. For him maybe, but not for me.

The words cut deep. “You haven’t got anything” is what I heard and what I believed about myself for years. I felt like I could never be good enough, that my dad thought I was ugly and unworthy of love. So I became it. My teenage years were horrible. The seeds of rejection and self hatred had developed deep roots in my young soul.

The most hurtful problems in our lives come because we have strong seeds of destruction rooted deeply within us. They make us think, speak, and act in ways that aren’t good. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). But just knowing about something destructive in our lives doesn’t make us free. We must first believe that we really can be spiritually freed from it and then take the appropriate corresponding action. So how does that happen?

Through Jesus Christ.  Jesus can get to the roots of any problem. He’s alive now and still doing the same things He did when He was in the flesh on earth: honing in on the roots, exposing them and giving deliverance. He said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matt 15:13).

That was the situation in John 4 with the woman at the well. Jesus came to the well and asked the woman for a drink. She asked him why He was talking to her since she was a Samaritan and Jews weren’t supposed to have dealings with Samaritans.

He totally ignored her question. He came with deliverance for everyone. It didn’t matter a bit if she was Jew or Samaritan or anything else. He didn’t care what she thought of herself or the rules she’d set up to guard herself. She had to yield to Him. He was there to deliver her.

He told her that instead of her giving Him a cup of physical water, he could give her a different kind of water that would change her life.  She was hesitant and replied, “The well is deep.” But Jesus had the power to go into that deep well of her soul, uproot the problem and give her complete deliverance. Psalm 42:7 tells us:  “Deep calleth unto deep.” There is nothing deeper than the insight, understanding and love of Jesus.

As it turned out, the woman had a problem with her self worth. She had gone from man to man looking for true love, but she was broken. Jesus pointed out what she was doing. He uprooted the cause and He showed her true love. She was so excited about her deliverance that she told the men of the city and they came out to see.

Jesus ministered to them for two more days and they had the same types of things happen to them. “And they told the woman, Now we no longer believe (trust, have faith) just because of what you said; for we have heard Him ourselves [personally], and we know that He truly is the Savior of the world, the Christ” (John 4:42 AMP).  Why did they say “savior?”  Because they were saved—rescued—from the effects of whatever roots were destroying their lives too.

Jesus is a person, still alive and real and able to work through people and the written Word, to get to the bottom of your wells, or to the deepest roots of hurt in you and help you get rid of those roots once and for all.

I just finished reading Mending Cracks in the Soul by Dr. Dale Sides. I went back to the incident with my father with new eyes and the Lord showed me the truth: My dad’s angry words had nothing to do with me. Lashing out in anger was a defense he learned as a child when he was so often accused of being wrong. It was an automatic trigger reaction. When he opened the tent flap without asking, he did something wrong and when I called him on it, he lashed out at me just like he always did when he was accused of being wrong. I finally understood and I could let go of my own hurt and anger. I was totally set free.

Jesus got to the roots of the problems for the Samaritan woman and many of the men in her city. He uprooted the destructive seed in me. And He can do it for you. I highly suggest getting Dale’s book and reading it. I think it will really help you get free faster. I know it helped me and I’ve waited quite a long time to finally get the answers I needed. Jesus can truly get to the deepest part of our souls and refresh our lives.

Love, Carolyn

(You can order the Mending Cracks book from lmci.org if you'd like to get a copy)

God's Story in the Constellations - Beneath the Veil no.28

1:30 a.m. in northern California and my dog decides he needs to wake me up to go outside. I get up and find his leash, put it on him and we step out onto the drive. It’s a clear, cold, moonless night. I let the dog do his business and I look up. What I see is stunning.

It’s a small meteor shower and beautiful! I look around at a star-lit sky and pick out some of the constellations I know: the Big and Little Dipper, Coma Bernice, Orion, the Swan, Draco. I remind myself I need to look up their meanings again.

8:00 p.m. in Pilanesburg Game Reserve, South Africa: I look out beyond the steaks cooking on the grill, to see Scorpio and the Southern Cross—totally different constellations, and just as stunning. I smile because I understand.

I used to wonder how people long ago or people living in isolated cultures would be able to hear about God and Jesus if there wasn’t anyone around to teach them. I thought maybe God was being a little unfair if people didn’t have the opportunity to read a Bible, and it really bothered me. Then one day someone taught me that God’s story of life and Jesus was all written in the stars. All anyone needed to do was look up!

God’s plans, purposes, and promises were written in the sky before they were spoken by man or written down. Psalm 147:4 says: “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” And every name has a spiritual significance and is found in the scriptures.

Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylonia taught people how to read and interpret the stars. That’s how the Magi knew to go to Bethlehem to find Jesus. They were taught how to read the heavens from their ancestors.

The names for the constellations, the numbering of the stars within them and the names of the individual stars had the same meaning across all the ancient cultures. The Chinese, Chaldean and Egyptian recordings go back more than 2000 years B.C. The fact that they named the same stars for the same constellation pictures is pretty amazing considering that several of the constellations don’t even look like what they’re called.

There are twelve zodiac signs. Between each zodiac sign, there may be several smaller constellations. Each constellation tells a part of the story of God's plan. For example, Virgo (the virgin) is a woman holding a branch in her right hand. The brightest star in Virgo in Arabic is Al Zimach, meaning “the branch.” The word “branch” is used in the Bible to denote the Messiah. Zechariah prophesied: “Behold I will bring forth my servant the branch” (Zech 3:8). And, “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch” (Zech 6:12).

Another star in Virgo is Zavijaveh, which means “the gloriously beautiful,” as in Isaiah 4:2: “In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious.” The star in the arm that bears the branch is named Al Mureddin, which means “who shall come down and shall have dominion.” When the ancients looked up at Virgo, they understood that there was a promised branch of God who would be born of a virgin and come down to earth and have dominion.

The Zodiac that the Egyptians recorded on the ceiling of the Temple of Esneh is drawn in a circle. One wouldn’t necessarily know where to begin and where to end. The figure of a sphinx connects the two signs of Virgo and Leo. The word “sphinx” means to bind closely together. The sphinx has the head of a woman and the body of a lion, as God’s story of His son’s birth on earth begins with a virgin and ends with him being the King of Kings, represented by the lion. 

Every constellation seen by man has a story to tell of God’s love and His wonderful plan for us.  Before the written Word, people all over the world in all different cultures could read God’s Word in the stars above. This skill has been pretty much lost, but not entirely wiped out. No man can change the stars and the true meanings have been recorded and guarded.

Psalm 19:1-6 says: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.”

Love, Carolyn

P.S.  If you’re interested in this subject, E.W. Bullinger’s book, The Witness of The Stars is awesome. He shows pictures of each constellation and has detailed write-ups on each one with their Biblical meanings. You’ll love it.

WINGS LIKE A PRAYING MANTIS

I looked out onto the patio and saw something strange going on. My cat, Snowy, was slowly backing up, ears flattened against his head and shackles up. His teeth were snarling and he was hissing. Something was scaring him and making him back off.

I opened the sliding glass door and went out slowly, expecting some big stray cat or dog ready to attack. What I saw was something quite different.

It was a 2 ½ inch praying mantis with its colorful, frightfully angular wings spread out wide like a mantle over her. She looked ferocious and she was running full speed toward Snowy! They don’t often show their wings. It’s like their secret weapon and apparently it works well. Snowy turned tail and scurried into the house through the opened patio door!

Sometimes the angels act in a similar way, to be our secret weapons. A few years back, I was having a particularly hard time at work and I felt weakened. I looked up the scripture in Psalm 103:20 “Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” I prayed they would go to my work ahead of me and help me there.

When I got to work, I went upstairs and I could see in my spirit a very large angel sitting comfortably on the corner of the wooden railing, with its wings spread way out to each side around the edges of my work space. I felt protected and strong. I felt like I was strong and the wings were spread up behind me too, like a mantle. This went on every day for several months until I moved to a new work location, where it seemed I didn’t need the added protection.

Every year my garden is visited by praying mantis so I’ve had plenty of opportunities to observe them, but only once have I seen one spread its wings out like this and go after a much larger creature. 

Like the mantis, we don’t always go around showing off our stuff, but when it becomes necessary, we certainly have many secret weapons. One of them is to utilize the ability of angels. They are strong to protect us and back off any perceived danger.

Love, Carolyn

For more on angels see post from Jan 12, 2013.

FIRE AND RAIN - Beneath the Veil no.27

I drove to my appointment and came closer and closer to the nearby mountains. Huge red and black clouds piled up high into the sky. They swelled fatter and taller and I felt smaller and smaller.

They crawled slowly and powerfully up into the sky like some thick ghostly monster. The heavy acrid smell of smoke filled the air. It was like when I’ve started a fire in my fireplace and forgot to open the slew. I’d throw open the doors and run out to get some fresh air. This time I WAS out, in a big open valley but there was no fresh air to be had. It was eerie and claustrophobic and I didn’t like it.

I imagined what it might feel like being up there at close range—my head tilted back as I looked straight up, a wall of gray and red thick heat forcing me backwards. The vision was threatening. I knew I had to do something serious.

I and others from around the world, prayed. I wanted God to send rain to our desert land and help put a stop to the red and black monster. He answered our prayer. The rain came, and the report is that all of the remaining embers will be totally out by Friday.

Our God is GREAT and MIGHTY. His throne is in the heavens and the earth is His footstool. He made all the planets, all the stars, all the galaxies and all the universes. He is in charge of the winds and the set the boundary of the oceans. He is God Almighty and He can do LARGE!

Those clouds were huge, the smoke suffocating and the fire fearsome. But our God is BIGGER! We need to respect HIM.

Love, Carolyn

STANDING WITH PEOPLE THROUGH THE HARD TIMES

One month after her surgery she entered into the familiar store front meeting room. All her old friends in the weight loss group were still there but they treated her differently.

She looked pale and weak, not the funny, fearless person they knew pre-surgery. They smiled politely and got involved in other conversations, leaving her out. What was going on?

The Holy Spirit told me they were afraid. They had been used to a person who had answers, wisdom, and strength. Here was the same person, but her outward appearance was so different. They didn’t know how to handle it so they didn’t talk to her. They avoided her for months.

At first I was mad at them for being so callous and disrespectful, but then I realized THEY were the ones to be pitied.  They were missing out on so much. What they could have gained in wisdom, understanding and guidance, they gave up. After several months and as she got stronger, some of the old friends came back around, but the ones who didn’t, dropped out of the group and began to struggle even more with their weight problems.

They lost her friendship because of their own fears and refusal to look beyond the exterior appearance. We have to be bigger than that. We need to respect people and look beyond what WE think are their weaknesses and faults. God doesn’t see things like we do.

Our God looks at the heart of a man or woman. When He sent Samuel to find a king to replace Saul, even the great prophet was only looking at the exterior: “And it came to pass, when they were come, that he [Samuel] looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam 16:6-7).

God doesn’t look at race or nationality, at male or female, background, culture, sickness, weakness or health. God looks straight through to the heart and we need to practice this too. We all go through down times, weak times. We don’t want to abandon people when they’re going through something. Have a little patience. Isn’t that what you’d want?

Love, Carolyn

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A Story of Healing and Faith - Beneath the Veil no.26

A Story of Healing and Faith

Two days ago a wonderful woman sent me this message: “You prayed for me in 1979, when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. I had health issues which caused me to fear that I would loose her.”

Soon after this incident, I was sent to a different city and lost contact with this woman. I never heard the results of my prayer until now, 34 years later! The message went on to say, “You said you saw a clear, healthy embryo. Today, she is 33, the mother of two.” Wow, what at blessing! So often we don’t hear back what God did for the people we prayed for, or ministered healing to. So how do we know if it worked or not?

I remember when I prayed for a fellow named Sammy. I laid hands on him and prayed his kidney stones would be dissolved. He ended up in the hospital with appendicitis!

That bothered me for years. I wondered why I didn’t get it right. When I ministered to people after that, I seemed to always have this little doubt coming up, wondering if I really got it right. One day the Holy Spirit stopped me from doubting and gave me the answer.

The Lord explained to me, “When you prayed for Sammy, I dissolved the kidney stones instantly. He did have them. You didn’t get it wrong. There was just more, that’s all, and he got that taken care of in the hospital.” Wow, what a simple answer and it set me free! I’ve never doubted myself in this category since.

The answer is simple: When we pray or minister in faith, from our hearts, and do the best we know how, then we can be assured that it works. Healing is always God’s will.

No matter how old or young you are, don’t ever doubt yourself when it comes to praying or ministering healing to others. Even if you don’t hear the good results right away, trust God that He has given you the heart of His love and that when you pray or minister, it does work!

Love, Carolyn

POISONING BY TETANUS AND SONS OF BELIAL

They picked us up at the airport in Kinshasa, Zaire (now called the Democratic Republic of Congo). A wealthy man in the government was hosting a gathering of Christians in his home. We drove up to the house but we couldn’t go in. We waited and found out why the delay.

Our host and his family drove up. They had just buried one of their sons. He’d died of tetanus poisoning. Though our host was a wealthy man and had the means to put the word out that he urgently needed the vaccine, there was none to be had in the entire country and his son died.

The leader of his country had riches beyond belief, but he who served him could get no help for his son. Why not?

The man at the top chose his priorities and set up a system that worked for his benefit, but the people under him suffered. This kind of despotism has not only invaded the political realm, but we see it in education, business, entertainment, religion and almost every institution of life. I’ve seen it in heads of departments in the school system. I’ve seen it in top training positions of certain organizations. I’ve seen it even in lower level managers in small businesses.

These people, who God calls sons of Belial are not just interested in the top levels of the mega organizations. Anywhere they can get a position of decision-making, they will try to get in. Their oppressive ways trickle down to effect everyone under them if possible. They need to be stopped. God shows us how we can be involved.

The Lord exposes them and shows us through the life of His beloved David, what we can do to bring them down.

God trained David early to be a fighter of giants. As a shepherd boy he fought for the life of his sheep when he killed a bear and a lion. As a young man, he killed Goliath to protect the people of Israel. As an adult he fought the devil spirits working in the sons of Belial, or as Dale Sides calls them, SOBs!^* We often think of how awesome it was that he killed Goliath with only a slingshot and a small pebble, but we miss the first weapon he used in the battle—the WORDS he fired against Goliath:

David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!” MSG

These words of David were powerful and when he spoke them, they came to pass. When David became king, many SOBs come against him. Just like God gave David words to speak against Goliath, He gave him (and us) strong words to speak against the spiritual Goliaths we encounter.

These words are violent and they are for those who are ready to battle a strong Goliath that must be taken down. The following are just a few of the Psalms David prayed against the sons of Belial:

Psalm 58: 6-8 “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.  Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.  As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.”

Psalm 7:11-16 “God is angry with the wicked [SOBs] every day.  If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.”

Psalm 109: 6-12 “Set thou a wicked man over him [the SOB]: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him.”

2 Thessalonians 1:6 “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you.”

There are many more of these prayers in the Psalms that you’ll now be able to recognize and use. This will help you in personal attacks and also enable you to go to battle for others. I pray several of these every day out loud.

I’ve only been able to give you a brief overview of this powerful weapon against an enemy who effects so many and yet is still so well hidden from most Christians. We are in a spiritual war and the devil is getting bolder and more viscious the closer he gets to the end. We can turn his tactics back on him and help rescue our fellow Christians from his destructive ways.

*I highly recommend getting Dale Sides’s book, Exposing Sons of Belial: Identifying and Overcoming Children of the Devil. See Liberating Ministries for Christ International http://www.lmci.org/index.cfm e-store, under booklets. It is a powerful revelation and well worth the reading for anyone who wants more knowledge, wisdom and training in this area.

Love, Carolyn

Hi to blog friends

I am so grateful to God for all of you who visit my blog. I have a map in my living room/office area and pins marking the countries where you live. All my love to you and I pray you are enjoying and learning new things from my writing. I pray for you daily and think about you and wonder what it's like where you live. I just had a visitor from Sicily and that was awesome since I'm part Sicilian. Every day I'm excited to see the same people coming back too. Just wanted to say I love you so much. If you are on Facebook you can also see my articles there if you want. I have a page called Christian writing A Journey in Faith by Carolyn Molica.

I keep seeing people from new countries, new cities, new islands who come to read what the Lord has me write. I'm so thrilled. You bless me so much and God bless you much!

Love, Carolyn

Taxi From Hell - Beneath the Veil no. 25

She dropped down into her chair. She was exhausted from six days in a row of 12-hour days driving a taxi in Las Vegas. She looked over at me, “You’re not going to believe what happened today. That creep Gino called me into the office!”

“He told me, ‘You’re not getting enough big fares, honey. You need to start going to the airport.’” The implication was that she needed to start taking people through the tunnel, which is ten miles more than the regular way. That’s about $20 USD more than what it should cost!

But she wouldn’t cheat people, so she was laid off right before her probationary period ended. By all senses knowledge, it seemed she’d been burned.

It reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3, when they wouldn’t bow down to worship the idol Nebuchadnezzar set up. They were thrown into the “burning fiery furnace.”  Nebuchadnezzar was so mad that he commanded his men to heat the fire up seven times hotter. Then something unusual happened.

“The flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” And a similar thing happened to the taxi company when they fired my friend for not bowing to their evil ways.

The taxi company got burned in a financial way. We prayed according to Romans 12:19 for God’s vengeance and He took care of it. There was a huge inquiry and a strike. Headlines read, “Clark County taxicab drivers taking tourists on the scenic route to and from the airport overcharged their passengers an estimated $14.8 million last year.”

The taxi company lost millions of dollars because of the strike and audit, and my friend received way more money from unemployment than she had from the actual job. And Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t burn either.

When we take a stand on what we know is true, God will not let us down. He will not let us burn. But if evil people are not willing to change, “God will repay with tribulation those who trouble you.”

Love, Carolyn