Wednesday, August 30, 2017

HOW TO MAKE EVIL GATHERINGS INEFFECTIVE

HOW TO MAKE EVIL GATHERINGS INEFFECTIVE
In Las Vegas we’ve noticed that when certain events come to town, they can have a bad influence on the spiritual atmosphere and it starts to affect us. When lots of people come together to participate in something contrary to God’s Word, their demons get stirred up and they like to extend their influence into the community at large. I know you’ve seen this kind of thing in your own cities, and communities. But the Lord has given us revelation on how to make these gatherings ineffective.

Sometimes we don’t recognize the influence of gatherings such as witches covens and Satan worshipers on full moon nights, or gatherings of terrorist pods, or the aftermath the morning after a huge hedonist party in town. We tend to take things too personally. And often when we feel bad, it’s not even us; it’s demons in the atmosphere pushing at us.

Some weekends here, we can feel the agitation in the air and it makes people drive especially dangerously. Sometimes the atmosphere just feels exceptionally heavy and oppressive. I’ve had mornings I didn’t feel like doing my hair, didn’t feel like writing and my brain was foggy. It just wasn’t like me. At first I thought it was me, but the Lord showed me what to look for and I’ve learned that most of the time I’m just reacting to the group of demons come to town.

God gave me revelation on this by reminding me of Nimrod. In Genesis 10:9 we learn that King Nimrod was “the mighty hunter before the Lord.” When it says “before the Lord,” it means he was in His face, against the true God. Nimrod got the people together and “they said, ‘Let us build a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make a name [for ourselves]’” (Gen. 11:4).

“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord said, ‘Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech’” (Gen. 11:5-7). When the people were together, they were united in the words they spoke. It’s like when you agree with someone and you say, “You’re speaking my language.”

The awesome thing here is that when the Lord God confounded their literal language, they couldn’t communicate with each other. When people can’t communicate, especially when it comes to getting a project done, they can’t agree and that brings envy and strife. James 3:6 says, “Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”

So the Lord showed me that we could pray for this to happen with whatever demons had come to town. I prayed that God’s strong angels would surround them and that the agitation, the envy, the strife and the confusion would happen within the confines of the convention or event and that it would not penetrate the angelic walls put up by the Lord to surround them and keep them in one place. It’s like putting those devil spirits in detention, so they couldn’t get to us anymore.

Within minutes of praying this, my mind was totally clear and I had plenty of energy to get going on my day. The difference is astonishing and it works every time. It will work for you too.

Another Biblical example of this is found in Second Chronicles 20. It’s the story of Jehoshaphat and his people. Three different nations came together for a type of convention or event in the wilderness of Tekoa: It was called war! They all got together to take what Jehoshaphat had. But Jehoshaphat and his people prayed and “when they began to sing and to praise [for the victory they anticipated], the Lord set ambushments.”
“For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another” (2 Chron. 20:22-23).

When Jehoshaphat and the people came to see what was going on, “behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped” (v. 24).

That’s the thing about some demons, they are so stupid, they start to fight each other and kill their host!
So if you sometimes feel the pressure or heaviness of the spiritual atmosphere, or you sense a strong agitation, don’t automatically think it’s something wrong with you. Ask the Lord what’s going on. It could very well be that there is some kind of gathering near you that you can spiritually confine and keep at bay.

Though we would love to deliver everyone from the demons that manipulate them, it’s not always possible. But it is possible to detain the demons, confine them to a certain areas and prevent them from affecting us. Through Jesus Christ we have that authority and ability.

Love, Carolyn

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Sunday, August 27, 2017

JESUS REPAIRS RELATIONSHIPS AND MAKES THEM BETTER THAN EVER

JESUS REPAIRS RELATIONSHIPS AND MAKES THEM BETTER THAN EVER
We all get our hearts hurt a time or two in this life. We just don’t have the ability as a human, to never hurt or disappoint someone we love. It’s not that people are intentionally evil or mean, but stuff happens. Psalm 118:8 is the very middle verse of all the verses in the Bible. It says: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” A while back I was deeply hurt by someone I never expected it from. She got married and never told me. I only found out afterwards by someone else. My heart reeled; I felt broken and my soul was devastated.

It tore me up for weeks. It was over a month and finally I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I had to settle it; I had to know why I wasn’t told. Even if she got mad at me, I had to know. I prayed and the Lord urged me to make the phone call. By the end of the evening, I got a full understanding of what had happened. There were major complications in the wedding plans. Lots of things changed and things got missed.

When I understood what happened, I could finally just forgive and forget. I let it go and my soul was freed of the pain. It was such a relief.

Though my heart had been crushed, I learned two very important lessons:  1. Handle heart issues as soon after the incident as possible, and 2. Don’t put your confidence in people. Even the best of them can hurt you. It doesn’t mean we stop loving people, but it does mean we have to go back to what God says about trusting Him and the Lord Jesus above all else.

Psalm 147:3 says: “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”

Jesus said this about His commissioning from God: “He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18). Sometimes I feel like those two phrases can relate to the same thing. When our hearts are broken, the painful emotions take us captive until we can finally get free. Time heals, but it doesn’t always make us totally free from the hurt. Only Jesus can do that.

John 8:32 says: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  I could guess a hundred possible scenarios as to why I wasn’t told about the wedding, but in the end I wouldn’t have guessed the real truth. I got the real truth because I prayed to get it and the Lord answered my prayer quickly.

When our hearts are broken and our souls devastated, our trust in Jesus will absolutely help us to rebuild, repair and heal. We go through the pain and though it’s so hurtful at the time, later we look back and say: “Now I understand.” And then we can go on. The resilience of the human heart and soul is astounding.

We survive; we get understanding; we get through sorrows; we get through struggles; we get through pain; and we can rebuild.

God promises in Psalm 23:3: “He restoreth my soul.”

My pain lasted a month and my recovery took place miraculously in only one day. I asked for His help and did as He guided me to do. I made it through and now I can honestly say my relationship with that person is so great, it’s as if the hurt never happened at all. We are very close now.

This kind of miracle mending comes with Jesus. It feels very different from anything else!

Love, Carolyn

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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

HEARING FROM GOD

 
HEARING FROM GOD
I woke up one night with the picture in my mind’s eye of a bat with big ears. Bats respond to vibrations much like we are to respond to the vibrations from the Holy Spirit. These spiritual messages are often in the realm of the unseen but we all have them. Those times when you “just feel like” you should wear a certain shirt, talk to a certain person, show up at a different time—these nudges happen to all of us, all the time. Sometimes we wish they were more like Las Vegas moments, with the bells and whistles to let us know “HEY YOU, THIS IS GOD!” Or like Jane’s sister said, “They should be accompanied by a movie theme song to let us know this is a big deal.” But most of the time the messages from the Lord are more like “a still small voice” Elijah experienced in 1 Kings 19: 11-15:

“And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

“And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

“And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold . . . the Lord said unto him . . . .”

I liked the way a friend, Adrienne, talked about being led by the Holy Spirit. She said: “God is ever present. Being mindful of this by actively listening for Him, is the key to walking by the Spirit. Even minor changes in schedule—if we show a little humility—it keeps our connection with God strong. We may never see the results of our obedience: like the car accident that doesn’t happen because of our obedience to be elsewhere. We may wonder how to tell if we are on the right track. The only way is to play it through and see what we get. Rejoice in the victories and when it doesn’t go as well, ask God how to do better.”

I think of soldiers, firefighters, undercover agents, 911 operators: they are trained to listen to their hunches and respond quickly. People’s lives depend on it.

God gives us Holy hunches. He can’t force us listen or to obey. But we can train ourselves to get better at both, while at the same time, asking for His help.

In Luke 11:11 Jesus says if a child asks his father for bread, the father won’t give him a stone. When we’re asking for a more spiritual walk, He’s not going to give us a stone to trip over, but rather bread to nourish us and make us stronger disciples.

Love, Carolyn
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Sunday, August 20, 2017

PUT THE CRUNCH ON NEGATIVE ANTICIPATION

PUT THE CRUNCH ON NEGATIVE ANTICIPATION
I’ll never forget the Christmas of 2011. My mom had befriended a crabby older woman named Edith. Edith didn’t really have many friends so every so often my mom would take her out to lunch. Then Edith started inviting herself to our family Christmases. No one liked it but we wanted to be polite and felt sorry for her. The minute she walked in the door she’d start, “Wow, you’ve gained weight!” “Why hasn’t your daughter come over to help me in my yard?!” She would just go from one person to the next with the derogatory remarks.

The Bible says in Luke 6:44: “For every tree is known by his own fruit.” Edith was pretty old, but instead of growing sweeter with age, her fruit was sour grapes. I felt sorry for her; but just because you feel sorry for someone, doesn’t mean you have to have them over to criticize your family on Christmas.

My sister and I thought that this year we were going to be free of Edith. She hadn’t talked to my mom in several months, and as of the third week in December, hadn’t called to invite herself to Christmas. We held our breath. It was about a week before Christmas and I had driven up from Las Vegas. I decided to stop at the local store before going up to mom’s. Guess who I saw at the store? No, not Edith, but my sister. She looked down at the ground and told me the bad news, “Edith’s coming for Christmas.”

“Oh no, this is not good,” I thought. “Yet another year where Christmas day was not one of relaxing, but of fending off Edith and her foul mouth.” I started to anticipate coming up with questions and stories that would keep her distracted as long as possible. I was living out the whole dreary scenario in my head. I spent quite a lot of mental and emotional time trying to predict how it might be and make my game plan.

Then God gave me a revelation and a new thought popped into my mind: “This hasn’t even happened yet. It doesn’t really have to happen at all!”

First Peter 5:8 tells us to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” He roars to scare us and send us running right into his trap. He wants to stop us from seeking God’s answers. John 10:10 says the devil comes to “steal, kill and destroy.” That is his only mission, by one means or another.

The way the devil roars is often with the thoughts and ideas he puts out there in the air: negative, scary, dreadful scenarios that he hopes we will latch onto. If we react to his roaring, we do stupid things and he’s got us.

We’ve all done it. We dread; we negatively anticipate; we run through scenarios and live through events of the future, as if they were certain. They’re not. If God tells us specifically that something negative is going to happen, that’s one thing, but we better be absolutely sure it’s really God. Everything else is subject to change.

I realized that I was basing my plans totally on what someone else had said about what was to happen. It was an event that was only predicted with words so far, but I had mentally already made it a reality.

In an instant, I realized that with God there is no time, so instead of making plans and mental attitudes for something based solely on what others said, I could say something different. I believed that my words would have just as much impact on the future as anyone else’s. In fact, concerning this particular event, I knew that my words would have more impact, because God was letting me know that I could say it and it would happen.

I could spiritually stop the event that would bring the devil’s division and confusion to our family Christmas.

So I prayed, saying, “I come against those words that said she’s coming and I send out angels to stop her at every turn, in Jesus’ name.”

Two days later my sister told me, “Edith’s not coming.”

All of us have been in situations where we have mentally invisioned how certain events would affect us negatively.

What if we stopped doing that?

So many anticipated miseries could be avoided, and so much more time could be restored to us, time that we would enjoy thinking about other things, rather than wasting time going over and over things that have not even happened! And the awesome thing is that the anticipated misery may not have to happen at all!

When so much of our thought is going into what we’re going to say or do in an expected future situation, we aren’t really living in the fullest of the present. We can only think one thought at a time, and how much of the present do we miss by spending so much wasted thought on a projected event that may or may not even need to take place at all. By giving energy to it with our thoughts and words, we give it life. We help cause negative events to take place because we allow, expect and participate in them mentally—we live them before they exist.

We can certainly stop ourselves. Negative anticipation is one of the devil’s best setups. If he can trap us into thinking in the future, he can get us to set up our own negative future events.

In my situation, God gave me revelation to let me know that my words would be more powerful than the other words I heard, and that with the assistance of angels (Heb. 1:14) I could put a stop to the devil’s setup.

We need to become aware of the times when we get consumed and overly anxious about an anticipated negative situation. We need to stop ourselves from being a victim of the devil’s malignant nature to steal, kill and destroy our thought time, our emotions, our happiness and our futures. We are not “sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36).

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom 8:37).

We have the victory over projected negatives when we claim our right to stop them and live in the glory God’s given us to live today.

Love, Carolyn

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Wednesday, August 16, 2017

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE CHRIST'S LIFE IN YOUR BLOOD

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE CHRIST’S LIFE IN YOUR BLOOD
I popped the top and took a sip of an energy drink called Red Bull. I was thinking I could use some Holy Spirit Red Bull right about now too, to re-energize, inspire and take my faith higher. So what kind of Red Bull would it be? The miraculous and amazing personal super charge to you and me, of Christ’s Red Blood sacrifice on the cross is THE most powerful energizer! Check it out: Colossians 1:27 tells us that when a person gets born again, they have “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you.” The spirit of Christ Jesus lives in our very souls and bodies now. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” If we really believe what the Bible says about this, we can tap into a huge advantage in life, a power-punch of Spirit power we’ve received as a gift from God Almighty, the Creator of all things.

It’s the power punch that gives us new abilities and makes us different and better than the person we used to be. We have the power to be gentle and kind, to be stronger and healthier, to step out in love with confidence, to perceive what others don’t, to get personal answers from God daily to make brave and right decisions, to excel in life.

Take a short journey with me now through the seven bleedings of our Lord Jesus Christ and see what amazing things He’s given us through injecting His blood into our born again lives. The Bible says that the “life is in the blood.” So in each area of His bleeding we have new ability in that area.

The first bleeding for us was in the garden of Gethsemane when He prayed: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood” (Luke 22:41). Jesus was willing to do God’s will rather than His own. One drop of this sweaty blood gives us the power we need to do God’s will rather than our own. We CAN do God’s will; We have the ability.”

Jesus next was “scourged” by the Roman soldiers. They thrashed Him 39 times with a whip made of several leather pieces, each loaded with jagged metal or bone pieces that tore and ripped open strips of flesh on His back. The physical tearing of the flesh from His body would also leave gashes and wounds susceptible to disease. Since His blood was perfect, He would have no lasting repercussions from any gashes, pain, or any other physical maladies. His blood covers all bodily things: sickness, weakness, disease, pain, broken, torn or missing parts. 1 Peter 2:24 reminds us that they could not contaminate Jesus’ blood in any way and it is, “by whose stripes ye were healed.” The Bible tells us we have access to total healing through the blood of Jesus.

This is supernatural stuff. The Bible calls it “born” again, when we accept Jesus as Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead. No pain, injury, mental disorder, malignant growth, weakness, disability or any bodily abnormality is attached to the new birth we get. None of that could attach itself to Jesus and when we got “born again,” the same capacity to thwart evil in body or soul is what we have. It’s “born” into us at that moment. The Spirit of God in us can miraculously, supernaturally change everything, if we only believe that what the Bible says is truly the Word and Will of the ONLY GOD.

Medicine, exercise, food and other things given by God in the first place, can help, but ultimately, it’s the LIFE of Christ Jesus, in Spirit energy, in your “born again body” that has a miraculous and wonderful effect on every particle and cell if we only believe what the Bible says. God keeps His Word.

The third place Jesus shed blood was from internal bruises. Isaiah 53:5 tells us: “He was bruised for our iniquities.” Jesus was mocked and beaten. There was distress and swelling caused by broken capillaries and dislodged blood beneath the surface of the skin. When we believe the significance of this kind of bleeding, it’s able to take away any humiliation and deep emotional bruises we’ve carried—the wounds that we don’t want anyone to see, even wounds we suspect, but maybe don’t even fully recognize ourselves, until they’ve been taken away.

The fourth bleeding was from the crown of thorns jammed into His skull. So much of what goes on in our lives is directly related to what happens in our brains. Jesus’ blood, applied to our brains and we can more easily think right thoughts, and make wise decisions like He always did.

Next they nailed Jesus’ hands and feet to the cross. The blood from his hands, spiritually into our hands, gives us unique power in our hands. Think about what we do with hands—we touch, write, make things, give things, stop things, clap, lift, and much more. Believing to let the blood from Jesus’ hands, by Spirit, pulse into our own, can change everything and everyone we touch.

Number six is the blood from Jesus’ feet. It changes the path we can walk on. Matthew 7:14 tells us “strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life.” Though narrow, it is the path of dominion like God says in Deuteronomy 11:24: “Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours.” This will only be true when we walk in obedience to the ability the blood of Jesus has given us.

And lastly, number seven. When the soldier came to see if Jesus was dead he took his spear and pierced Him through the side—through His belly, His lungs and His heart—making sure His entire life force bled out. That bleeding gave us His entire life for eternity. The blood shed from His belly made available Holy Spirit to abide within our bellies, in our innermost self. As Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” That’s what happens when we walk by the Spirit, we flow as a living Spiritual river.

The blood shed from His lungs made available new life in every breath.

And the bleeding from His heart gave us the ability to Spiritually know His heart and be able to extend God’s heart to others. As Jesus said: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (John 14:9).” For many of us, that is our lifetime goal.   

Love, Carolyn

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Sunday, August 13, 2017

DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS

DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS
There’s a casino here in Las Vegas we lovingly and cynically call the “sex hotel.” The young guys come in with hunger and expectation. I watched one guy in a restaurant start flirting with a waitress in a way that he fully expected her to take him in the back room for sex right there on the spot. It was kind of humorous, but sad too. The billboards advertise sex, so the guys come in expecting to get it, but it’s a phantom. They can look all around the main floor of the casino and restaurants and be sorely disappointed. They’re trapped by visions of their imaginations. Dangerous illusions end up in dangerous and destructive behaviors. Phantoms present themselves in all categories of life. I had my own phantom about a vacation.

My ideal vacation was a memory from my younger years—having a great time camping, fishing, and floating down the rapids on an air mattress. The image was pulling at me so much that I was getting really uptight, especially since everything I was planning, failed. What started as a simple desire, turned into lust and idolatry.

Lust, because I became obsessed with it; idolatry because I’d elevated the idea of a perfect vacation above almost everything else. When I realized this, I looked up the word idolatry and found that an idol is defined as a phantom. I told myself I had to let the phantom image go. Previous vacations with my family are great memories, but I couldn’t continue chasing ghosts.

Chasing phantoms doesn’t deliver the results we expect or want. The Bible calls it “vanity.” “Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Eph. 4:17). “Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness will be his reward” (Job 15:31).

I was caught up in chasing the illusion—an emotional feeling I wanted from the perfect vacation. It was making me miserable and I didn’t want it to happen again. Being obsessed by this phantom made me act and feel like I was in a vise grip.

The dictionary defines a vise as “that which winds, consisting of two jaws opened and closed by a screw, to hold or squeeze with.” That’s exactly how I felt. The vacation mirage had me in its jaws and was squeezing. I felt pressurized and unsatisfied. The word “vise” can also be spelled “vice.”  I realized that a v-i-c-e (defined as a fault or harmful habit) works the same way as a v-i-s-e with people’s minds. The vice gets a grip on the mind and it won’t let go.

God tells us He wants us to be free. Paul tells the Galatians: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1). A yoke is like a vise grip that keeps us from the freedom that comes with Christ and walking by the Spirit. The yoke that binds us is often merely a false image we’ve somehow believed.

The world is full of phantoms, and we’ve been bombarded with them since we were young—things we were led to believe were okay for us to seek and seize. They were presented to us through all kinds of media including books, magazines, TV, the internet, religion, our parents, teachers, peers, our cultural and ethnic backgrounds, to name a few of the sources of these phantoms. We have even combined what these sources put out, and developed our own versions of certain ideas, or pictures of how we think we’d really like things to be.

My dream was of a specific vacation I was idolizing and obsessing over. Another example comes from when I was twenty-one. I had the idea of having twelve kids. I figured since I really liked teaching Sunday School classes with lots of kids, I would love having twelve of my own. But that was my imagined scenario, and I didn’t check it out with the Lord. I also dreamed of being married by the age of twenty-five and I felt devastated when that didn’t happen.

One of my friends used to envision herself having one perfect job—one that she would absolutely love, and she would do it all her life. Women and men fantasize about their idea of their perfect mate and possibly miss the best one—the one God sends. People get an idea of what they see as their perfect family setup, then end up as a single parent, step-mom or a step-dad, and feel that their dreams have been forever shattered, and they have a hard time coping with the reality of the new family they’ve been given.

I’m sure all of us have had dreams we thought were our own, but sometimes those visions of what we think we want, come not from God, but from the world, and if we continue to pursue those things, our actions can turn very un-Christ-like. Paul says: “I warn you beforehand, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21 AMP). Up until now, I never really understood that verse, but now I get it.

When we are chasing phantoms we can’t be at the same time enjoying the inheritance of God’s way. Paul doesn’t say if you get trapped by the world’s delusions you’re not going to heaven, you’re a horrible person and doomed forever. Yes, you are definitely doomed now, as long as you continue to seek the illusions, because those things put a yoke on you and they can be tremendously oppressive, and they will never really satisfy. But in contrast to seeking empty illusions, we have another choice.

We can choose the sure promises of God—promises that always deliver. When we have an image in our minds or hearts we can ask God for revelation about it: is it from God, or is it from another source? True visions come from God, not only from His written word, but they are also communicated to us through His Spirit which we have within us. As we endeavor to seek Him and His will for our lives in all our dreams, desires and hopes, He will not fail us.

By the way, that vacation I wanted—when I went to God and asked Him, He lined one up that was entirely different from what I’d imagined and it was the best vacation ever! And concerning the young guys who come to the sex hotel, I pray they wake up to God instead of some stranger.

Love, Carolyn

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Friday, August 11, 2017

ORDINATION PICTS FROM 38 YEARS AGO

Was ordained on August 10 in 1979. It's been 38 years, yikes! Still doing my best for the Lord. Check out my Facebook page: “Christian Writing A Journey in Faith” for the articles I put up on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Here's a couple picts of that day. A big thanks to Kathy, who laid hands on me (I forget her last name, but not the prophecy. If anyone can let me know her last name, that would be great - thanks!), to Ralph Dubofsky who encouraged me to go for it, and to Dan Stockemer who gave me a word of wisdom on the day before the blessing of ordination took place.

AND TO EVERYONE OUT THERE WHO I’VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO HELP IN ANY WAY: GOD BLESS YOU. I LOVE YOU THE BEST I KNOW HOW WITH ALL MY HEART.
Love, Carolyn

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

OUR YOUTH IS RENEWED LIKE THE EAGLE'S

OUR YOUTH IS RENEWED LIKE THE EAGLE’S
I’ve been very blessed with good health and a lot of my strength and youthfulness I attribute to quoting Psalm 103:5 every morning as I’m driving to work. It says, “He satisfies my mouth with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

As the eagle goes through the different stages of its life, molting takes place and the new feathers are graciously provided. God created a way for this majestic bird to grow the necessary new beautiful feathers as it matures. We need the same thing, brand new feathers to keep us youthful and strong as we also mature.

This scripture is not only talking about God providing good physical food we can eat that can renew our youthfulness, but even more important is the bread of life God’s given us to eat—His living Word. As we take the truths of the Bible into us and as we speak them out of our mouth, we get new insight, answers that weren’t there before, fresh understanding and youthful excitement.

For me, with world struggles, church struggles, politics, work situations, stuff happening to my friends and my family, I feel a little faint-hearted, a little weary at times. But when I go to this section of scripture, I get renewed and strengthened in my mind:

Isaiah 40:29-32: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

I believe that taking delight in God’s Word, both the written Word and the awesomeness of the Lord’s presence in our everyday lives keeps us strong and our youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Let’s take some time, even just 5 or 10 minutes, to read something from God’s Word and see what the Lord wants to tell us. I know it sounds so simple, but how often do we intend on doing something, but other things come up and we never get around to it? Like the Nike advertisement goes, JUST DO IT! 

Love, Carolyn

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Sunday, August 6, 2017

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND THE LOVE OF GOD

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND THE LOVE OF GOD
I didn’t want to really hear it, but now I’ve seen that to serve God properly, I can’t avoid it. Paul says: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2). I ask myself, “Why couldn’t he have said: “Love, pastor, be nice, be gentle.” Those are good things, but here it says “reprove, rebuke and exhort.” Well, they have to be good things too. No one really likes reproof or rebuking, and exhortation to do better isn’t that popular either. But, admittedly, we all need it.

To “reprove” in this verse is translated from a Greek word meaning “to convict, to expose, to call to account, show one his fault” and “to demand an explanation.”  “Rebuke” is “to award, in the sense of merited penalty, to charge sharply, to restrain or forbid.” And to “exhort” is translated from the Greek word “parakaleo,” which means to call to the side, to console, to beseech, beg, entreat, to invoke, encourage, strengthen, instruct and teach.”

So what Paul is telling Timothy is that, as a leader, he needs to call people out on their sins, make them own up to them, and then beg them and encourage them to change, letting them know that he totally believes they CAN do it!

Paul was a great example of this and we see many examples in the epistles of him reproving, rebuking and correcting. And good parents are well practiced in this task, as well.

But as we get older, we not only get tired of correcting others and figure someone else will do it, but we also get lazy in our own lives and start letting things slip without correcting ourselves. We have to stop doing that.

Second Corinthians 5:20 says: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.” As representatives for Christ, we can’t afford to get lazy. We should be the examples of holiness, virtue, honesty, integrity, kindness and all the good things the Bible says about how we should and can be living.

John 8:44 tells us the devil is the father of lies, so he loves it when he can get Christians to compromise on truth, even in the smallest ways. He is quick to shell out excuses and justifications for doing things that are unholy.

I had a male friend, Jacob, who had the saddest, most honest-sounding story of his and his wife’s relationship. He bemoaned that she never wanted to have sex and only conceded because she wanted children. But after their three children, she was finished having any physical relationship with him. He said he still loved her, but he was a man with physical needs as well. He was very up front with his situation and I almost felt sorry for him. But when I heard that he used this same story with every single woman he met, I realized this was his “come hither” story—well rehearsed and it actually worked on at least two women that I knew of. Jacob had a convincingly compelling story, but his answer wasn’t God’s answer.

Every Christian can come up with a good story for committing what the Bible calls sin—stealing, little white lies, adultery, false accusations, murder, covetousness, you name it. But one excuse leads to another and it becomes like a leaky roof. If you don’t fix the small leak, the rain comes and all of a sudden that small leak isn’t small anymore and you have a big mess.

We need to fix the leaks.

In the USA, schools used to have a poster of the 10 Commandments on the wall. The kids knew what they were. They knew that it was good to obey your parents and bad to steal and they learned what it meant to covet. As I was thinking about this, I tried to write down what the Ten Commandments were. I only got 6 of them! I didn’t even know exactly where they were in the Old Testament and had to look it up. That’s not good.

They’re in Exodus 20:1-16 and Deuteronomy 5:7-21 if you want to look at them.
1.You shall have no other gods before Me.
2.You shall not make idols.
3.You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5.Honor your father and your mother.
6.You shall not murder.
7.You shall not commit adultery.
8.You shall not steal.
9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10.You shall not covet.

People say that all the Old Testament law was fulfilled in Christ and that love is a greater law than what they had in the Old Testament times, and that’s true. They quote Galatians 5:14: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” But if we don’t know what the old laws are, that love is supposed to be covering, then we really won’t know what that love includes. That’s why the New Testament apostles, prophets, teachers, etc. had to write things like, “lie not one to another,” etc., to remind us of the details God wants us to get right in showing His true meaning of love. It’s a sacrifice of self, yes. It’s admitting and owning up to our wrong actions and wrong thinking and disciplining ourselves to change.

But when are we most willing and even happy to do these things? We should be willing all the time, but . . .

It’s when we know we are loved unconditionally and uncondemned—when we really trust that reproof, rebuke and exhortation is coming from a heart of love. We’re much more willing to take reproof when we know that God’s love for us is unconditional all forgiving and He will never give up on us, but only see us as ever growing better and more precious and more pure.

Matthew 5:8 says: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” A genuine metal is purified by fire and water. The fire burns away the impurities and the water washes away all that’s left. Let’s let the fire of God purify us and the water of the Word wash us clean.

We know that we aren’t going to get everything right, but we know that we can do better. If we ask, the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God Himself will rush to our help. We can expect it, lean into it and enjoy the result.

Love, Carolyn



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Wednesday, August 2, 2017

LIFE AND DEATH

LIFE AND DEATH
I just found out a work associate I haven’t seen for a couple years, passed away last November. He had a toothache, took something for it and had a bad reaction, which caused a heart attack. He was only in his 40’s I think. I’ve had more than a few friends die unexpectedly and way too young. It always causes me to stop and reflect on important life things. God says he loves everyone, like it says in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God knew every person who would ever be here on the earth and He loves every one of us. So it makes me sad when a person doesn’t get to live out their full years. How many great experiences did they miss out on? How much wisdom would they have shared later on in life if they had the chance?

Then of course I wonder if they ever accepted Jesus as Lord, even as a kid. And on the tail of that, I always ask myself, “Did I have an opportunity to share about the Lord Jesus Christ with them or did I blow it?” I don’t always get an answer to that, so I don’t mull it over very much and move on to prayer.

I ask the Lord to help me to see when a person wants to know about Him and to help me open my mouth to share the good news when someone wants to hear. After reading about Hell and watching a few videos on it, I sure don’t want anyone to not choose Heaven! Anyway, what’s so hard about accepting Jesus Christ as Lord? It’s not as if we do such a marvelous job without Him. And the Creator of Everything raising Jesus from death? Not really hard to believe either—and definitely worth the end result!

Every time someone I know dies, I think about how I need to be thankful for every day and remember to make it count the best I can. Life is so fragile.

The Bible tells us: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15). The word “precious” in this verse means “costly.” When God loses someone He’s placed on earth, it costs Him, especially if they are taken before their time.  The loss is expensive for God and for us humans who are still living as well. The Bible specifically says a person should be able to live until they are satisfied. Any death is a loss, but death before a person is ready to go, is especially hurtful to all who knew them and knew there should have been more time.

When we lose someone, whether they’ve been good to us or not, and whether or not we recognize it, we pay the price of losing that person’s ability to help us grow as a human being in some way or another. Death steals the lessons that person had to offer. How many times have we been so thankful that a mean person showed us how we DON’T want to be—that was a lesson they taught us better than anyone else could have.

All people on earth are important. And one day there will be no more death, no more loss. I hope I can help as many people as God gives me, to choose life after death—everlasting life with Him.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the “I AM” video yet (last week Wednesday post), please do. I think you’ll like it.

Love, Carolyn

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