A NOSE FOR GOD

Just a normal day as a nurse’s assistant in the hospital. I walked the antiseptic green hallway of the orthopedic floor and smelled that awful odor once again.

I was just beginning to pay attention to the spirit of Christ within me and I could smell a killing cancer. At first I thought it was just a smell that came with the cancer, but when I asked, I found out that others couldn’t smell it. God was using my spiritual sense of smell to point out certain patients that needed special prayer and compassion.

What about our visual senses? I wanted to buy some new furniture. I prayed about it and I remember getting a mental picture (in color) of three pieces of furniture: two nice dark cherry chairs and a recliner in the same dark cherry with a leather seat. I kept seeing that picture every time I prayed for my furniture. It was the Lord’s way of assuring me that I could have it. In a couple of months I found it on sale and was able to buy all three pieces without going in debt.

What about hearing? People hear the voice of the Lord in several different ways. It can be an audible voice, seeming so natural that they look around to see who’s talking to them. When we hear the spirit speaking from within it can sound like our own voice or even the voice of someone we know. Often the Lord speaks to our spirit in a “still small voice” from deep within or we get a feeling of just knowing something that we hadn’t thought of ourselves.

A spiritual sense of taste? There are times when I've taken a taste of something and though it didn't annoy my taste buds, I knew I wasn't supposed to eat it. One time I got the message, but I took a couple extra bites anyway and felt bad all afternoon.

As for the spiritual sense of touch, there have been times when I've nearly jumped away from someone who wanted to touch me and pass on something bad. On the other hand, the spiritual sense of touch comes into play often when I minister healing to someone or pray with them.

The Christ in us will guide us and let us know the will of God in every situation. How does this work? Through the guidance of the written word and through the spiritual five senses we receive when we get born again and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 5:14 tells us “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” In other words, if we want to grow up as Christians we need to exercise our spiritual five senses. Any kind of exercise takes time and focus.

If we are willing, the Lord will teach us more about it. We will become more acutely aware of His presence, live on a higher spiritual level and be of more real help to those around us.

Love, Carolyn
P.S. Part 2 of my book WINGS: A Journey in Faith is available for free Sept 2-6 from Amazon:)

CHASE THAT DEPRESSION RIGHT OUT - Beneath the Veil no.33

I am a capable adult but she was treating me like I was five years old. This went on all day. She checked on me every half hour or so and each time decided I wasn’t doing it right. It was awful and the result was even worse.

This incident sent me into a spiraling depression. The next morning I didn’t have to go to work so I stayed in my bed and asked God for some scriptures to help me. He gave them and I read them silently to myself. But nothing changed until I got the rest of the revelation:

“Read the scriptures I gave you out loud!” 

It was a fight, but as I read out loud, I got more convicted and more aggressive, and the spoken words of the Bible literally forced the depression right out of the house and out of me. It was awesome!

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he calls the Word of God the “sword of the spirit” (Eph 6:17). Matthew records that sometimes the kingdom of heaven has to be taken by force. (See Matt 11:12.) Well, I took down that depression with force by speaking God’s Word out loud with conviction, and it worked!

Even after becoming a Christian, there are battles to be fought. Your buttons get pushed and then you’re caught in the same awful place you don’t want to be. Why does this happen?

Because we have a personal adversary, the devil. Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8). He’s looking to see who he can get to, who he can devour. So how does he do it?

One means is by way of what the Bible calls “familiar spirits.” They are called that because they are familiar with you.

They know your life. They’ve been hanging around and have seen what it takes to really irritate you, what it takes to overwhelm you, scare you, depress you and get you angry. They know just how to set up a situation so you react in the same way you’ve always reacted.

When they saw the opportunity to have that girl cut me down on everything I did, they used it to call in the spirit of depression to see if I’d take it. Stupidly I did! Jeremiah wrote, “All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him” (Jer 20:10).

I had been enticed by listening to the degrading words of the girl and taking them to heart.  Then those words prevailed against me and my personal adversary got to take revenge on the happy Carolyn by making me feel depressed. But not for long!

Jeremiah spoke the following verse right after he talked about the familiar spirits trying to get to him: “But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail” (Jer 20:11).

So, why didn’t God just take care of it and make me not feel depressed? Why did the familiar spirit get to work its evil on me?

Because I allowed the thoughts in and then began to dwell on them. But now I am getting to know the keys to use against my adversary. I am getting better and better at recognizing the traps and letting the sword of the spirit—that is, the Word of God—do the fighting. As I spoke the scripture out loud, aggressively and forcefully, the Word itself sent that depression on its ugly way.

James said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jas 4:7b). I was so excited to see the power of the forcefully spoken Word of God. It chased that depression right out. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63b). It’s really amazing to know that even though we are attacked at times, God is always there with a way out. Our spiritual persecutors will never prevail against God and His inspired spoken word!

Love, Carolyn Molica

P.S. You can find my books on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com under my name.

PHRASE BOMBS = SERIOUS MATTER

“I’m losing it,” he chuckled. He used that phrase way too often and in the next six years sadly he did lose it. His creative, sharp mind took a downhill turn and succumbed into a dementia he never quite recovered from. Did it really have to do with the words he spoke?

Both scientifically and biblically the answer is YES.

Much scientific research has been done to test the results of the phrases we speak. “Words have power. Most people speak words that increase body stress and turn the body’s pH from alkaline to acidic. Words can change the way we think and feel.  Researchers have concluded that speaking the correct form of words and thinking the correct thoughts actually changes a person’s DNA.”  (Kevin Trudeau, Natural Cures 2004) That’s impressive.

An experiment was done by the Japanese scientist, Masaru Emoto, where different phrases were spoken to water crystals, which were then photographed. Harsh and mean words made the molecules look very different from the molecules that received gentler words. The water molecules in this experiment responded to words, so why wouldn’t the water molecules in our own bodies? Children’s bodies are about 75% water and adults about 60%. We are affecting those molecules by our words.

The Bible has many strong things to say about words too. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov 18:21). “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth” (Prov 6:2). “A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul” (Prov 18:7). We don’t want to be fools.

We can’t be frivolous, saying, “Oh, I didn’t really mean it.” If we continue saying things like, “It blew my mind,” or “My foot is killing me,” or “It scares me to death,” or “It was unbelievable,” our brains can’t help but believe we really mean it and then our brains send those signals to the rest of our body and it responds accordingly. In other words, speaking something puts it in motion. God says if we keep speaking it, it will absolutely come to pass. It’s a law of life, just like the law of gravity: If you drop it, it’s going to fall.

Let’s stop dropping “phrase bombs” on ourselves. I’ve seen the sad and awful results too many times. So, I’m asking you to please consider this.

Ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of phrases you need to get rid of. Also ask family members or friends to help you. I know it’s not easy, and it’s especially not fun to have people correcting you about the phrases you speak. Frankly, it gets annoying! But if we will make the changes in our speech, it won’t be long before we notice the changes in our bodies, our emotions and our minds. They will be healthier and our lives happier.

Love, Carolyn

JESUS WENT TO THE MOUNTAIN, I GO TO THE MOVIES - Beneath the Veil no.32

Jesus went to the mountains when he needed a break from ministering. I go to the movies. I sit in the dark and let myself go. Nothing gets to me there. It’s too dark to write; I can’t read; there are no animals to feed, no housework or watering to do and I can’t even text on my cell phone! I love it.

Sometimes we tend to overdo it, being so intense, serious and religious; we don’t make time for fun and relaxation. It’s just not healthy and it’s not God’s will. He wants us to enjoy what He’s given us. That means we get to experience our God-given emotions of happiness, mirth, and pleasure.

I know we’re not to base all of our decisions on what makes us feel good. But we’re not to deny ourselves either. Balance is a good thing.

In Old Testament times there were feasts throughout the year. Ecclesiastes 10:16 tells us “a feast is made for laughter,” so God must want us to have some good times. Proverbs 15:15 says, “He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”

The original word for “merry” means playful, cheerful, joyful, pleasant and beautiful. The word for “heart” means feelings and intellect. To have playful, pleasant and beautiful feelings or thinking, we need to include some laughter, fun and relaxation in our busy schedules. God has a reason for wanting us to employ our emotional side.

Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” The definition for the word “merry” includes “brightness.” An older retired friend fell recently and was at home recovering. She was spending a lot of time alone and was getting absent-minded and dull in her thinking. My roommate picked up on this and remembered that our friend loves baseball. She got out the baseball schedule and started calling every day to get our friend hooked up on a game. The happy emotions kicked in and our friend looked forward to getting her daily call about a game to watch. Her mind got sharper and clearer. She’s happy and it’s changed her whole outlook.

Find the thing you love and do it. King David danced and played music. Peter went fishing. Jesus went up to the mountains. And I go to the movies.

Whether it’s the movies, a trip to the mountains, watching your favorite sports or any other “time out” activity, let’s not deny ourselves the opportunity to refresh our souls and get healthier as we enjoy what God’s given to us.

Love, Carolyn

Carolyn Molica, Author of  WINGS: A Journey in Faith from the Earthly to the Heavenly - A One Year Workbook in Christian Living ( Kindle Edition): Available in Paperback also

http://www.amazon.com/WINGS-Heavenly-Workbook-Christian-ebook/dp/B007T9AJ7E/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1377190933&sr=8-4&keywords=wings+a+journey+in+faith+Carolyn+Molica#_

ROCK BECAME A SHOCKING LESSON

Carbondale University of Illinois May 1970. I stood in the crowd of protesters chanting, “Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh, NLF is going to win.” I picked up a rock and threw it as hard as I could. The minute it flew from my hand I was jolted! “What am I doing?” I’d gone too far.

I was throwing a baseball-sized rock into a line of policemen, not even thinking who or what it could hit. I quickly backed out of the crowd of protesters and retreated to the trailer. I waited for my friends. I was silent on the trip home.

And when I got there I had some real soul searching to do. My next semester at school was awfully lonely. I’d abandoned my protester friends and began to look inward for answers.

At some point we all come to crossroads where we’re startled into asking, “Why am I doing this?”

Life is relatively short. If we’re wise we can handle the problem of personal motivations before the shocker comes.

Here’s a life saving, life changing exercise we can do now:

Write down an inventory of all the activities you do for two days. Then next to each, write what motivates you to do that activity. Be honest. “I don’t know” is not a valid final answer. If you really can’t come up with anything, it’s time to ask someone close to you. People close to us sometimes know us better than we do. What motivates us is important to know.

Finding out who we are is the first step to becoming who we want to be.

By the way, this true story from my life was brought to my memory by a movie I saw this weekend. It was called, “The Company You Keep,” with Robert Redford. Let’s remember that God will work through secular events in life to teach us spiritual truths.

Love, Carolyn

THE MIGHTY LORD OF SABAOTH - Beneath the Veil no.31

THE MIGHTY LORD OF SABAOTH

We were on the El train in downtown Chicago. She was sitting in the seat facing us, smoking a cigarette. Suddenly she scrunched up her face, pulled the lit cigarette out of her mouth and threw it at my friend, aiming for her face. Then she lit up another and did the same thing. She was getting a kick out of it. I asked her to stop but she wouldn’t. What happened next was pretty wild.

A fury rose up from deep within me. I knew it was the Holy Spirit and not me. I was well aware that God would only put up with so much abuse of His children and then He’d do something mighty. This time He was going to work through me. I was small, 5ft 3 inches and 115 pounds. The girl was taller and bigger, but that didn’t make one bit of difference to God.

I got up from my seat, grabbed this evil-acting girl by the front of her shirt, lifted and pushed her up against the far wall of the train. “Stop doing that!” She dropped down onto the closest seat and was quiet from then on out. That’s an example of how the Lord of Hosts (also called Lord of Sabaoth) works.

When the title Lord of Hosts or Lord of Sabaoth is used in the Bible, it is in the sense of an entire, indomitable army instantly on the scene to battle for us. The words “Sabaoth” and “Hosts” mean the same thing: an army of strength and might. The motivation is always God’s love for us and His outrage towards His enemy when we are mistreated.

One thing The Lord of Hosts really dislikes is when His people don’t get paid properly. James 5:4 says, “Behold, the hire [money] of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” In other words, the money itself is trying to get to the workers and the workers are crying out to God for their rightful money. This is what happened to me:

I worked the full week and it was pay day. I was going out of town and needed the money, but when it came to getting my check, my boss said he didn’t get paid, so I wouldn’t get paid. I was shocked and depressed. I came home and told my friend. She was very quiet at first and then she exploded.

She opened her mouth and from the Holy Spirit within, she spoke with red hot fury. She was so mad that it even scared me. I tried to get her to calm down but she wouldn’t. We both realized this was the Lord of Hosts and it was like a spiritual army was equipped and ready to go after the spoil. The message from the Holy Spirit was to call my boss and tell him I really needed my money NOW! He complied. He got in his car and drove all the way across town to give me the money. He never tried to pull that again.  

The scriptures talk of a righteous anger and that’s where the Lord of Sabaoth comes in. We have been taught in church that’s it’s always wrong to get angry. But that’s just not true. What we need to know is the difference between us getting angry and the Holy Spirit within us getting angry.  

Recognizing the difference comes by first studying the Lord of Hosts from the scriptures. Get a Concordance or go to an on-line Concordance and look up the usages of “Lord of Hosts” and “Lord of Sabaoth.” Then ask the Lord to give you understanding and He will.

Jesus himself got angry and overturned the money lenders’ tables when they kept cheating God’s people. But if we choose to ignore the Lord of Hosts’ desire to help, the devil will be glad to throw cigarettes in our faces and keep back our money. We can’t let that happen.

Recognizing and allowing the Lord of Hosts to help us to help others is an important aspect of a mature Christian’s spiritual growth.

Love, Carolyn

HOLY FITNESS

Two painters were teamed up on a small scaffolding. I looked over and my poor friend was ducking and trying to move away from the flailing arms of her partner. The partner was on some kind of methamphetamine and jumping spasmodically all over the scaffold, arms and legs going in all directions. Her frenzied speed and jerky movements were a kind of bizarre entertainment, but she wasn’t accomplishing anything. Sometimes we’re all like that.

We get ourselves going in so many directions that we aren’t really getting anything solid accomplished.

Holy Fitness is taking charge of our lives, diligently making one small change at a time. We align our habit patterns with what the Word of God and the Holy Spirit teach us. Don’t be a Christian spaz, trying to add too many things at once! Diligence is the key. The dictionary defines it as “constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.” Holy Fitness starts with a word from God, then a deliberate decision, then the corresponding action.

Each person’s Holy Fitness training will be different. John 16:13 tells us the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. That includes truth about our daily habits. We just need to take the time in our frenzied lives to listen. As I’m writing this, I realize I can make a small change in that direction.

I’ll take five minutes of dedicated listening time first thing even before I get out of bed!  My Holy Fitness training program will start with this new exercise. What’s He telling you? Hebrews 11:6 says “He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Enjoy the workout.

Love, Carolyn

Soar Like an Eagle, Ride the Word - Beneath the Veil no.30

SOAR LIKE AN EAGLE, RIDE THE WORD

I was waiting at the trail head for the rest of the hiking group. It started to sprinkle and was an unusually cold morning for Las Vegas. I saw movement up at the top of the cliffs and got my binoculars focused on one large golden eagle sitting at the edge of the cliff and another circling in the sky. They were getting ready to fly above the oncoming storm. Being above the storm, they cruise along peacefully. If only we could be as smart!

The financial systems of the world have failed. Most people trusted in some aspect of those failing systems and lost money. And now the devil wants to fill us with fear about the future. We can't let him do that. The Lord has already rescued us and made a way for us to rise above like the eagle.

Our God is a good God. That sounds like a no-brainer, but how often have we gotten worried, scared or angry about our circumstances and felt our present situation and our future looks pretty dim?

This happened to me last year. Las Vegas wasn’t building, so painters like me didn’t have jobs. When this happens I normally do a lot of side jobs, but people were being tight with their money and didn’t want to pay for extra projects. Besides that, I was caring for a sick friend so I had more things I needed to pay for. Things were really going downhill financially. It hit me like a brick wall, but friends and family helped and I cut way back on my spending, cutting my bills down, etc. It didn’t hurt me a bit.

I was glad to experience what I did. The Lord showed me how to cruise through, one event at a time. My low financial state took me to new heights spiritually.

I met some of the greatest and most loving people in the most unexpected places—places I’d never even thought of visiting before. The Lord was showing me a wealth of blessings and only a small part of it had to do with money prosperity.

In the last several years there has been so much teaching about financial prosperity that many Christians (including me) have felt ashamed if they haven’t become instantly rich like the church leaders and others whose testimonies we hear. I’ve come to believe that’s wrong.

The Bible says, “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied” (Ps 37:19). The NIV reads: “In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” And in the NAS: “They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, and in the days of famine they will have abundance.” That abundance is not just referring to money. If we truly have God and his son Jesus Christ, we have everything and if we don’t have them, we have nothing.

I was financially poor last year, and yet with God I soared like an eagle above the storm because I learned to ride the Word. What I received spiritually and in my soul last year was wonderful and worth way more than money.

No matter what our situations may look like and no matter what the world’s financial circumstances are, we can’t let fear lock us into bad times. We “seek those things that are above… and set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:1-2). Our God is a good God and will always provide a way for us to rise like and eagle above any storm.

Love, Carolyn

SCARY EYEBALL

I opened the sliding door and in came my dog Skippy. His left eye looked a little red but nothing too terrible. But by the next day his eye was puffy, red and droopy. It looked awful! I didn’t want to take him to the vet because I had a bad experience with the vet and it left me really skeptical. So now what?

He didn’t appear to be having any pain, so we waited a few days, prayed and waited. But my faith was weak.

Matthew 11:23-24 says that when you pray, believe and don’t doubt. I believed God would heal his eye, but then when I looked at his poor awful droopy red eyeball, I would get worried. I doubted and thought maybe I should take him to the vet, even though I knew in my heart that the vet would do no good. I was like the man in James1:6-8:

For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

That was me—believing for healing one minute and doubting in the next. What was amazing is that his eye was responding accordingly—it looked healed, and then it would get all red and droopy again. It was confusing and I started feeling guilty about not going to the vet, and also about not believing God for the healing.

After a short period of this going back and forth, my friend said, “Look, Carolyn, you’ve got to agree with me on this healing!” She was right. Jesus said, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 18:19). We asked and we agreed, but then I had to make my mouth say it every time a doubt crept in.

Second Corinthians 4:8 says, “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” Romans 4:17 tells us to call those things that be not as though they already were.

Abraham did that. It was about 24 years since God had given Abram the promise of being the father of many nations, but nothing had manifested yet. So God told him to start calling himself Abraham instead of Abram. The name Abraham means “father of many nations.” After he started speaking the new name it was within three months that Sarah was pregnant with Isaac. (See Gen 12-18.)

That touched my spirit and I knew I should start doing the same thing. I looked at Skippy and called him “Puppy Healed Dog.” I spoke right to him and said things like “Look at you, your eye is healed. God healed your eye in Jesus name. You’re Puppy Healed Dog.”

After that, his eye took about two weeks to totally heal for good. During those two weeks there were times when his eye went red and droopy again, but this time I didn’t let any words of doubt or fear come out of my mouth. Instead I just kept saying that he was “Puppy Healed Dog,” and the unseen became the seen, just like God promises.

Love, Carolyn