GOD SENT RAVENS TO ELIJAH AND A CAREER TO CAROLYN

GOD SENT RAVENS TO ELIJAH, AND A CAREER TO CAROLYN

At the outskirts of Las Vegas there used to be a petting zoo and restaurant by a large duck pond, on a property called Bonnie Springs. It was a throwback to the ’50s, cozy and delightful. For many years they took in injured animals and birds and cared for them. We liked to go out there to see an old raven. The guests from the restaurant often feed him soda crackers through the holes in his large pen. 

We watched. When the raven had all the cracker pieces neatly organized in his beak, he hopped down to the bottom of his enclosure and placed the neat stack to one side. He dug a shallow hole with his whiskered beak, put two pieces in the hole and raked some dirt over it, so there was no sign of cracker at all—only earth. He took the remaining portions in his beak.

Clippity-clop hopping in raven fashion to the other side of his bird coop, he dug another hole and buried the rest of the crackers. I was in awe. Finally, I understood the record in 1 Kings 17 about Elijah being fed by the ravens: The raven had already buried some food; it was just waiting for the time when God wanted it brought out to Elijah.

“And the word of the Lord came unto him [Elijah], saying, Get thee hence, and hide thyself by the brook. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord, and the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening” (1 Kings 17:3-6).

Elijah’s circumstances were not ideal, and the bread and meat were probably not kosher, but Elijah was thankful. God’s provision for him had been totally unpredictable and definitely unique.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says to: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” We need to trust that the Lord loves us and will provide for us even though our paths may be rocky at times. If we look to the Lord Jesus to guide us through, it will work out better than we could possibly imagine.

When circumstances or decisions are hard, we can remember Isaiah 43:19: “I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”

We learn to expect the unpredictable and unique when it comes to God watching over us. When we keep our eyes on Jesus as it says in Hebrews 12:2, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,” He will always have things set up for us to get to the other side and to the good results He has for us.

When I got ready to write my first book, I had no idea how to get started. The Lord was way ahead of me.

Wendy, one of my closest friends, was publishing online for her job, so she was able to help me. My other friend, Maarit, was an excellent editor and that was no coincidence, either. God already had my girl ravens set up to bless me, and I blessed them too. When I decided to start an art career I “happened” to go into a place in Kansas City to buy a drawing pencil; I came out with a job to fabricate sculptural molds for the bronze foundry and art gallery!

When I moved from Missouri to Northern California and interviewed for a secretarial job, I ended up telling the woman I would prefer working in the arts. She gave me a client’s number, and the first thing my new boss asked was if I knew how to make a mold for a sculptural piece. That started my ongoing career in the arts. Again, no coincidence, but God was preparing ahead of time just for me, and I never saw it coming.

If we continue in our hearts to want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, He will never, never let us down. 

The ravens are out there burying your crackers and steak right now.

God’s got a great future for us. Let’s be courageous and not be afraid of the unusual or unique ways God has to bless us.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Can you cite another passage of scripture (besides the one with Elijah) where God supplied an answer from an unusual source?

2. Recall and briefly describe a situation where God had already set up your “ravens.”

3. Where in the Bible is the story of Elijah found?

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GOD REMOVES THEM - PRICKS AND THORNS

GOD REMOVES THEM - PRICKS AND THORNS

When we face challenges and battles, we must remember what Ephesians 6:12 tells us: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Every negative thing that happens to us is, in some way, connected to negative spiritual forces. They either live inside of people or hang out around them to influence them to act in adversarial ways towards other human beings. Only God can remove some of the demons that like to plague us.

My friend Janelle became a leader within a weight-loss group. Members started going to her for counsel and encouragement. She grew to a position of respect and notoriety because she had an anointing of the Lord to help these people. Cherise envied Janelle’s popularity and began to mutter remarks under her breath whenever Anne offered up a suggestion. Cherise managed to turn even the smallest conversations into a competition between them.

Janelle was getting badgered by constant verbal stabs, and she was tempted to fight back. But by the grace of God, she realized this battle was not worth fighting by the five senses. The situation needed a touch from the supernatural.

As we grow spiritually, we learn to recognize how particular devil spirits present themselves and operate. Then we find a similar situation in the Word of God and find out what God says to do about it. Each kind of demon exhibits unique characteristics. But God tells us: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccles. 1:9). Once we see the operation of a certain kind of demon and we’ve read about it in the Bible, we will recognize it much more quickly.

The Bible calls the ones that attacked Janelle, “thorns,” and “pricks.” Numbers 33:55 says: “Then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” The Hebrew word for “vex” is “tsarar,” which means to besiege, shut up, afflict and oppress.

Where it says they attack you in the place you dwell, it means that you are in a good place. Biblically, in this verse, the word “dwell” means that a person is settled nicely, at ease, and prospering where God has led them. Satan gets so angry and jealous that he sends prick and thorn demons to wrestle us out of God’s blessing places. The demons poke at us, stab at us, and try to get us distracted or, even better, into a fight.

Joshua 23:13 says the following about this kind of demon: “They shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.”

Judges 2:3 says: “They shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.”

We find a great example of these spiritual thorns and God’s solution to getting rid of them in Second Chronicles 20. King Jehoshaphat was a good king. He and all his people were prospering and enjoying God’s blessing. They had come up out of Egypt and didn’t bother the kings or people of Ammon, Moab, or Mount Seir. But now that Jehoshaphat was doing so well and had such a good reputation, these three armies were jealous, and they gathered a great multitude to come and destroy Jehoshaphat and his people and take over the wealth.

Jehoshaphat was challenged to a fight, but he didn’t know what to do. He recognized the enemy and, though he won many battles in the past, in this case (as in any situation with spiritual thorns and pricks) God’s solution was not to fight.

If we try to fight these pricks and thorns, we will lose. This kind of spirit can only be taken out by the Lord Himself. God spoke to Jehoshaphat and the people through Jahaziel:

“Thus saith the Lord unto you, ‘Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord’” (2 Chron. 20:14-17).

The people prayed and praised God and the next morning when they came to the watchtower to see what was going on: all they saw were dead bodies. The three armies had attacked and killed each other so that not one enemy was left alive. Not only had God allowed the armies to wipe out each other, but all the stuff they’d brought with them became rich spoil for Jehoshaphat and his people.

In both Joshua 23:13 and Judges 2:3 where spiritual thorns are described, God’s solution was that if the people looked to Him, He would be the one to drive those people out who had been operating under the influence of thorn demons.

In New Testament times, the Apostle Paul also encountered these spirits, and God showed him how to handle them—in the very same way as Jehoshaphat. Second Corinthians 12 has that record.

Paul was on the high road. He was getting surprising spiritual revelations and was able to help so many people, but then came “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me” (2 Cor. 12:7). The dictionary defines “buffet:” “to hit with the fist, to beat back like waves hitting a boat, to punch, slap, or force its way by struggling or hitting.” A buffing wheel is used for polishing. We have the phrase “polish him off,” meaning to kill him.

The ultimate goal of the thorn and prick spirits is to kill the believer’s anointing, his talent, his notoriety, his joy of dwelling in a good place.  And they often do it by constant stabbing, “thorns in your eyes” (repeatedly being annoyed by what you see), or being continuously pestered by voice, choice of music, physical or emotional constant attacks to your soul.

At the time of Paul’s attack, he was being exalted because of the way God was working in him to minister, just like God works in each of us to bring us into positions of honor in areas where we spiritually excel. Paul prayed three times to get rid of it. Paul was no slacker when it came to praying, but somehow, he wasn’t getting God’s answer. I wonder if he maybe thought he could fight it like we sometimes think.

But the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). “Weakness” in the Greek means a lack of spiritual power, which is what we saw with Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat realized he didn’t have enough energy to go against such a spirit as the one he was facing with those three armies. He needed God Himself to do it. The Lord Jesus was giving Paul the same answer when He said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” In other words, let Me do this job.

The Lord wants “to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chron. 16:9). And with thorn spirits, all we do is look to Him to take care of the situation. “Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (2 Chron. 20:17).

Jealousy and ambition make people susceptible to carrying these thorn and prick demons. They try to provoke us to fight back. If we give it to the Lord instead and don’t fight back with our five senses, the demons can’t get to us and the Lord gets rid of them instead.

When Janelle was attacked, her flesh wanted to fight, but she soon recognized what kind of spirit it was, and we took the situation to God in prayer. We were inspired to tell the spirit it couldn’t touch her, and it wasn’t going to get a fight from us but from the Lord Himself.

Soon after that, we were invited to go to breakfast with some of the people from the group, including the girl being used by the thorn spirit. The Lord said, go, so we went. When we got there, we could tell that the thorn spirit was gone entirely. The girl was free from any devil spirit and acted normal. God removed the prick and thorn spirit, and it never came back.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Describe a situation you couldn’t handle at all without supernatural help.

2. Have you ever had someone pester you like a thorn and keep poking at your nerves? Talk about it.

3. What kind of demons have you learned to recognize? What do you use from your arsenal to make them leave?

4. In Numbers 33:55, what does the Hebrew word for “vex” mean?

5. Who in particular do the “thorn” and “prick” spirits go after? HINT: the word “dwell” in Numbers 33:25.

6. What was God’s answer to dealing with the “pricks” working in the armies that came against Jehoshaphat?

7. Where in the New Testament do we see another example of these thorn spirits and the weapon used against them?

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JACK INSTANTLY CHANGED HIS MIND

This past week was extra stressful for me, and I was in a terrible mood. I didn’t even want to come out of it all week long. Sometimes we know what the answer is, but we don’t want to do it. Today I decided I better get myself right. When I asked the Lord to show me what to put up for my preach letter, He directed me to this simple story about Wendy and her son Jack. I listened, and here it is:

“Put him on the phone.” My friend Wendy’s six-year-old son Jack didn’t feel like taking a shower and was giving his grandma Mary a bad time. When Wendy was sure Jack was on the phone, she measured out her words: “You need to get in that shower and be clean by the time I get home.” “Okay,” he answered. Jack instantly changed his mind and obeyed. What about us?

Children can make changes easily and learn the benefits of obeying. They remain flexible and grow. As we mature into adults, there’s no reason that has to change. So, how do we do it?

Just this morning I was feeling burdened, thinking I had too much to do. Then when I went to write this, I heeded my own words: “Change your mind. It’s only a thought away.” So I told myself, “It’s going to be a great day.” My attitude instantly got brighter. Satan tried to get me to balk and argue that it wasn’t going to be that easy. But I answered that thought with, “No. With God, it is that easy!”

A rudder on a ship is small, but it can take that ship and turn it around and make it go in a different direction.

Romans 12:1 says: “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” So, by even one thought, I can change the whole direction of my day and be pleasing to God. That’s awesome!

A better day is just a thought away.

We can only think one thought at a time, and we have the power to choose the next thought. “For as he thinketh [is thinking] in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). What gets into our heart starts with one thought. A right thought is just one thought away from a wrong one. And right thoughts come from the Word of God. It really is just that simple.

Jack instantly changed his wrong thought to the right one by listening to his mom and obeying. We can do the same with God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are our own best friends when we take a thought from God’s Word rather than one that collides with it. Simplicity is a good thing. Life is not that hard if we keep ourselves flexible and obedient like children, one deliberate thought at a time.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Have you recently had the opportunity to change your mind from wrong thoughts or emotions to right ones? Did you do it quickly, as Jack did?

2. What does it mean to you to re-new your mind as it says in Romans 12:1?

3. Like a rudder on a ship, what small things have significant effects?

4. Try to think two things at the same time. What happens?

5. What did Jack do when his mom told him the right thing to think and do? Can you think of one area in which you might apply this principle?

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BODYGUARDS FOR LIFE

BODYGUARDS FOR LIFE

Mario told me he drives 23 hours straight through when he takes his family to visit relatives in Mexico. I asked him why. He replied, “There are many banditos in the hills along the way, and I am protecting my family.” It reminded me of Genesis 24, where Abraham sent his servant to find a bride for Isaac. The servant had doubts about the trip, but Abraham told him, “The Lord will send his angel before thee and with thee, and prosper thy way.” What did this mean?

The servant had to travel about 450 miles through rough lands carrying a dowry for the prospective bride. Like with my friend Mario, there were bandits along the way ready to rob the servant of his many precious treasures. Part of the angel’s job was to go ahead of the servant and make sure the bandits were not going to be around to attack and steal the goods. Abraham was wealthy, so he would have had many camels with loads of gold, silver, beautiful clothing, and other wonderful things.

The other part of “prospering thy way” was to make sure the servant acquired the treasure (the wife) he came for. And, indeed, it did happen.

How do these scriptures relate to us? If you consider that our lives are a journey, then these verses from Genesis 24 relate to us in many ways and can be applied in many circumstances. We all have possessions we consider treasures. We’d like them to last and not be lost or stolen along the way.

In Matthew 26:53 we see that Jesus could have asked for the help of angels: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” Twelve legions equal 72,000! Then Jesus tells us we can do the same: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

Considering all the servant took with him, he most likely had other people with him as well, and the angel protected them too. We can pray as Jesus did, and ask God for protection for our loved ones, as well as for our personal safety and the security of our goods.

Part of the angel’s mission in Genesis 24 was to prosper the servant by making sure he fulfilled the purpose of his trip. In this case, it was the right woman. Whatever things the Lord has given you a desire for, you can pray that He sends an angel to prosper your way too and direct you to be in the right place at the right time to receive that desire fulfilled in the very best way.

It’s also something to note in Genesis 24 that the angel was sent out to prosper the way of a servant. This guy wasn’t a king or a corporate giant; he was a servant. Every single born-again person has access to angels like it says in Hebrews 1:14: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Galatians 3:29 says we are those heirs: “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Today I am praying for you that you will read this record in Genesis 24 in light of your life’s many journeys and think about how you can pray for the assistance of angels to prosper your way too.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Where in the Bible is the record of Abraham sending his servant to get a bride for Isaac?

2. How do you think Abraham got the idea that an angel would go before and with his servant? How do we know angels are willing to go before and with us?

3. What do you think some of the things angels would do to help prosper the servant’s journey?

4. List a couple of ways these scriptures in Genesis 24 could relate to you on your present journey.

5. Do you think the angels would be willing to protect the people you take with you on your journey like they did with Abraham’s servant? What can you do to employ these angels for service? Cite a scripture to document this.

6. Hebrews 1:14 says angels minister for heirs of salvation. Cite a scripture that says we are heirs.

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WHIRLING DERVISH OR CHAMPION RACECAR DRIVER?

WHIRLING DERVISH OR CHAMPION RACECAR DRIVER?

Two painters were teamed up on a small six-foot scaffolding. I looked over, and my friend Karen was ducking and trying to move away from the flailing arms of her partner, Jill. Jill was high on meth and jumping erratically all over the scaffold, arms and legs going in all directions. Sometimes we act like Jill. We get ourselves going in so many directions that we aren’t moving forward, but only whirling in circles.

Racecar drivers take charge of their lives and move with determination and diligence.  The dictionary definition of diligence is “a constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.”

But we have to remember that we can’t do this alone. If we want to be a racecar champion, all the human effort we make is only empty religion and rules, if the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ aren’t involved in the process. 

Jesus told the disciples: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send, shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

How does walking by the Spirit of God work? The Lord leads us to something that resonates in our hearts; we connect with it, acknowledge it, and make up our minds to pursue whatever small thing He’s asking. If He shows us a direction to take and we don’t listen, the Lord will sometimes let us go ahead and do our own thing until we finally wear out and come limping back to Him.

He’ll wait for us to wake up and come back to where we left Him. The Holy Spirit reminds us to go back to the idea He gave us before. Yep, the one we didn’t follow the first time He told us. The Lord is patient. He’ll wait a long time for us to “remember, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26b).

Each person’s journey will be different. John 16:13 tells us the Holy Spirit is present to guide us: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things.” WOW! How awesome for the Spirit of God Himself to take the time to show things to each of us, individually. That’s love.

Isaiah 48:6 says: “Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.”

How exciting and fulfilling it is if we take the time in our frenzied lives to take notice of what He’s doing for us and give Him some credit for it.

Job 8:7 tells us: “Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.” As we acknowledge the Lord in our daily lives, we grow spiritually, and we see even more. Walking by the spirit starts with small things, then expands.

Hebrews 11:6 says: “He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” How amazingly beautiful can the rewards be when they come from the Creator (Elohim) of all things?!

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. What truth have you received from the Lord lately that has resonated in your heart?

2. Describe a time when you were going in way too many directions at once. How did it affect you?

3. If you think you might be going in too many directions now, what is one small change you can make this week to change that?

4. What good thing has happened to you recently? Have you acknowledged the Lord for the blessing?

5. What verse gives us hope that even though a beginning may be small, later it will be much more significant?

6. Where does it say the Lord will show us new things? Do you believe it?

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Learn practical ways to listen more clearly to the Lord and the stories will show you how to walk more intimately with Him. Gain the spiritual keys and weapons to be victorious in every situation, God’s way.

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JULY 2016 - PATIENCE IS LIKE A DIAMOND

JULY 2016 - PATIENCE IS LIKE A DIAMOND

An amazing thing happened this week that proved to me that through faith and quoting a particular scripture, one of the Fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22 had fully developed, and we didn’t even know it.

This past Wednesday, I woke up in a sweat. I checked the thermostat, and it was over 80 degrees at 4 a.m.! The temperatures have been 109 degrees to 113 degrees during the day, so we had to get this fixed as soon as possible. I had to be at work, and my roommate Jane had an appointment at 1:00 p.m. We had to think about the cat and the dog, call the insurance people who would call the air conditioning company, and we also needed to figure out a place to stay until it could be fixed. We had lots of arranging to do and were chock full of pressure.

We actually handled it well, one thing at a time. Jane took me to work, called the insurance, went back to check on the animals, called me, and was able to make her 1 o’clock appointment. The air conditioning guys couldn’t make it out until Friday, so the next two days were a whirlwind of driving me to work, driving back to check on the animals, getting our stuff to the motel and checked in, back again to check on the animals, getting a ride after work to the motel. And in the middle of this, we had a quick rainstorm and a flash flood.

But with all the tension and stress of the situation, we didn’t even argue one time. When the anxiety mounted up, we shut up and didn’t let it out of our mouths. We just kept our trust in the Lord that all would be well, the air conditioning would be an easy fix, the animals would be fine, and everything would be okay. And it was.

Galatians 5:22 tells us: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” We ate some of that “longsuffering” fruit. The Greek word for “longsuffering” means “patient enduring.”

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says: “Patience only grows in trial.” In other words, patience is only developed under pressure, so we don’t even know we have it until we’re put to the test.

Lots of times, we don’t see what the Spirit is doing to change our lives, and we even may wonder if anything is really happening. I know that since the beginning of the year, Jane and I have had several opportunities to be stressed. We were both very aware of the reason: I started working on publishing my second WINGS book. The adversary hit me with just about everything he could to get me to quit. But with Jane’s help and the help of friends like you, I didn’t give up.

Every day on the way to work, I would say Philippians 4:6 and 7 along with the other scriptures we quote. It says: “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Then when this incident with the air conditioning happened, and we were put under even more pressure, we just kept the faith and trusted in the Lord all the way through. We even got a mini-miracle: The air conditioning guys were scheduled to come late Friday afternoon, but they had a cancellation, so they were able to come at 9 a.m.

When the whole incident was over, we discovered that in this experience, the fruit had become fully ripe. I can honestly say, it’s as if the entire thing never happened.

We talked this morning about what could have happened if we had let the stress get to us: we could have argued about things, which would have brought about emotional strife, which would have remained and would have needed to be handled after the incident of the air conditioning was long over.

So many other negative things could have happened and lingered beyond the actual incident, but because that fruit of patience (longsuffering) was already developed, when the event was over, the stress just fell off like a scab and had no more effect on us at all – like it never even happened.

It's not great, humanly, that patience (longsuffering) only gets developed under pressure. It’s just NOT fun, but once you’ve been through it, it’s amazing and thrilling and a great joy to know you really have it.

Like Jane reminded me this morning, a diamond is formed only under pressure. And we’ve found that true forbearance (patience) is a very precious diamond to own.

Love, Carolyn

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MEEKNESS ISN'T WEAKNESS

MEEKNESS ISN’T WEAKNESS

September 2014. It was another rush job. The designers were sending over three samples of red brick, and they wanted me to do variations of whitewash and aging on them. The samples arrived late. The mortar wasn’t even dry yet, but they still wanted me to finish so they could pick them up the next day. This project was a tough one.

I was under pressure to work quickly. I got three fans out to dry the mortar first. Then I started to mix my colors. When somebody pushes me in a situation like this, I want to push back. But I told myself, “Jesus is with me. It’s okay. I can do this.”

Then the project manager told me they were coming for the pieces two hours earlier than planned. For a few minutes there, I mentally lost it. “What?” I thought. “They bring me the pieces late. They aren’t even dry enough to paint, and now they want them completed two hours earlier?” I started to get angry, but then a strange thing happened.

My old nature of rebellion just disappeared instantaneously as an overwhelming meekness enveloped me. I didn’t even have to try to overcome anger or any of that. It wasn’t me trying to be meek. It was genuine. It clothed me inside and out, and it felt really true and good. It was like an atmosphere of meekness, through and through, beautiful, elegant, and powerful. “This isn’t me,” I thought. But I didn’t have the time to ponder it, so even though it felt alien, I went with it.

I finished up the samples before the deadline, and I’m sure it was the Lord helping me on that one too. I told my project manager he could call the guy to pick them up, and I followed him over to the job site with my touch-up kit.

I was so calm and peaceful in this new air of humility. I walked onto the job site in my typical work attire: a T-shirt and painter pants that used to be white but now were about 75 percent covered in paint. My boots were also paint-spattered. I had on my hard hat and my safety vest that didn’t fit because they only come in one size: large. I found a place to sit on a dusty stack of bricks, but I felt like an elegant, powerful queen in a gorgeous dress and beautiful crown. The meekness wasn’t weakness. It made me feel tall and free.

The designer arrived and picked the sample he said he just loved. That made me happy, but not nearly as happy as this new humility I was experiencing.

It was great to feel genuinely calm inside, in contrast to the uproar I usually felt in these hurried, stressful, last-minute situations. Some part of my soul had changed. The old me was sharp-tongued, rebellious, and angry. This new meekness had to be the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, part of the new me, the Christ in me: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Romans 7:24-25 talks about the two natures we have in us, the old one and the new one. Only God, through Jesus Christ, can deliver us from our old character: “Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.”

I had tried my best in the past to be meek under stress, but even with my most vigorous efforts, it wouldn’t last very long, and it definitely wouldn’t be true humility.

But with the miraculous working of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rebellious, angry nature of the old Carolyn was replaced by the pure and wonderful meekness of Jesus Christ. That’s the new nature God intended for me to have. It had nothing to do with me changing myself. It had everything to do with the Lord working in me to transform me into my real self in Christ. All I did was have to desire to be more like Him. The Spirit of Christ in me changed my soul. It took time, but the change came, and here it is many years later, and the meekness is still here. It’s for real.

Almost every morning, my roommate Jane and I add this little phrase to the end of our prayer: “I can hardly wait to see what the Lord is going to do today.” It’s an exciting life.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. How do you honestly react when someone pushes you to go faster?

2. Have you ever experienced a fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness or temperance) come over you supernaturally? How did it feel? Describe the experience.

3. Are there characteristics from your old nature that have entirely disappeared? Others that have periodically dematerialized?

4. Which of the fruits of the Spirit would you most want to experience at this time in your life?

FREE THRU TUES.      Part 3

This section of WINGS: A JOURNEY IN FAITH contains 14 true-life short stories, opening your awareness of how to apply Christian principles to everyday life and see. The chapters include: 

24. THE DEVIL HAS NO AUTHORITY
25. RISE LIKE THE EAGLE ABOVE THE STORM
26. OUR SPIRITUAL FIVE SENSES
27. I KNOW THE BOSS AND I'M WITH HIM
28. GOING THROUGH THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE
29. DO WE HAVE TO WAIT TIL WE DIE TO GET SOME HEAVEN?
30. SEEING IN NEW WAYS
31. GOD'S SPIRIT TOUCHES OUR SPIRIT
32. NEGATIVE PRAYERS
33. ROLLER COASTER FAITH
34. HOLDING YOUR GROUND
35. THE CICADA
36. NO GLASS CEILING
37. DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS

PRIDE COMES IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES

PRIDE COMES IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES

My best friend Jane was driving, and I was in the passenger seat. Typically, when Jane drives, I do the backseat driving. This morning was no different. The traffic was extra heavy, and I could see that someone had stopped about six cars ahead of us. As Jane approached, it seemed to me she was going way too fast. I jerked up both hands, palms stretched out, signaling her to stop immediately!

Out of her mouth the words cut loud and sharp—vicious, almost: “Don’t you think I saw it? I’ve got plenty of room!” Then the angry silence; one of those silences that are fraught with tension on both sides. I wanted to defend my point of view, but this time, I knew better. It would have led right into a bigger argument, the kind where every sentence begins with the acidic phrase: “You ALWAYS . . ..”

Anybody who has had a very close friend for a long time, or those of you who are married, know exactly what I’m talking about with the backseat driver syndrome.

This time, though, I handled it differently. Jesus has been working with me, healing various soul wounds, and delivering me from the dark sides of my personality, changing me into a better person.

Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us: “And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord.” (AMP)

The word “glory” is translated from the Greek word doxa. It means “dignity and honor.” As we look to Jesus and take His reflection as our own, among other things, we become more honorable.

In a matter of a few minutes, I calmed down, got peaceful with the Lord and knew what to do. I opened my mouth and said to Jane, “I’m sorry. I’m not going to do that again. You’ve never had an accident, and I’m not going to be a backseat driver anymore.” As I heard the words come out of my mouth, I felt different. I had just spoken simple words, and yet they were life-changing truth; they opened a door I never expected.

The Lord soon revealed to me that my backseat driving was just plain pride, mixed with a little fear. I didn’t realize it of course, but that’s what it was, PRIDE, thinking I would have done it better! Yikes!

Sometimes it’s hard to admit to the dark sides of our personalities, but if we do, and we want to be delivered from those things and the demons that cause them, we can be. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

Who would have connected pride to backseat driving, right? But there it was. We may tell ourselves we’re just trying to help, but the thought, “I’m helping” is sometimes a sneaky perversion of “I can do it better.”

Biblically, pride is a snake. Job 41 tells us: “Leviathan . . . is a king over all the children of pride” (vv. 1 and 34).

And Isaiah 27:1 calls “leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent.” In Hebrew, the word “piercing” means “fleeing, escaping, bolting, noble, imposing, aristocratic, crooked, devious, corrupt, fraudulent, underhanded, deceitful, and unscrupulous.” The word for “crooked” means “twisting, winding, circuitous, indirect, convoluted, labyrinthine and tortuous.”

A snake is sly. It uses camouflage to look like something it’s not. A rattlesnake blends with rocks and you would hardly know it’s there unless you knew what to look for, or you heard its rattle.

Pride is a snake that manifests in many ways. How many times have we cut someone off in mid-sentence to say what we wanted to say? That’s an indication of pride. We think what we have to say is more important than what the other person is saying.

What about when we look at our boss and think, “I could do this job much better”? Maybe that’s true, but it’s still prideful if we haven’t considered all the boss handles. Would we really do a better job at everything?

In Numbers 21 there is a great record about serpents. The Israelites had been in the wilderness a long time, and “the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses” (v. 4-5a). They started complaining, “Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread [manna]” (v.5b).

Their complaining brought fiery serpents, and many people were bitten and died. “Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (vv.7-8). The fiery serpent Moses put on the pole represents Jesus on the cross. When the people who were bitten by snakes looked on it, they were healed and delivered.

It’s the same today. The only way to get rid of the leviathan snake of pride is to look on Jesus Christ. It takes the miracle of the cross and the power of the resurrection to deliver us from the serpents that bite us.

When I realized pride was the cause of my backseat driving, I got quiet and looked immediately to the Lord for help and deliverance. He led me first to apologize, admit my sin, just like the Israelites went to Moses and acknowledged their wrongdoing.

Then I looked to the dunamis power of Christ, the DYNAMITE miracle-working Spirit of Christ working in me. I expected it to invade my soul—my thoughts, my emotions, my actions—so that I would have excellence of soul and do the right thing.

In the story of the serpents in Numbers, it was the soul of the Israelites that was messed up, and it got them fearful, prideful and complaining, and that brought the fiery serpents. It was something in my soul that let the sneaky serpent of pride take over, but it was Christ Jesus who got it out. I’m free now to maintain my victory.

This backseat driving incident took place in the summer of 2016. I like to re-read my stories and see how I’ve grown and also see where I need to be reminded.

Love, Carolyn

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OVERNIGHT IN THE WOODS BUT NOT ALONE

OVERNIGHT IN THE WOODS BUT NOT ALONE

I woke up and felt something on my back. I thought it was just bumps from the rocks I’d slept on, but no. It was ticks! Three of them that I could feel, and they’d embedded themselves into my skin and were getting fat from my blood. I could reach around to my back and tried to twist them out. I probably didn’t get the heads, but I’d deal with that later. I was lost in the woods, had slept on the rocky shore of a lake all night, and needed to get home. But I wasn’t afraid because something wonderful had happened the evening before.

I was walking up in the hills behind my apartment. I took my Bible and thought I’d hike a little and then sit down to read. I hiked a lot more than a little, sat down to read, and when I got up, I realized I didn’t know which direction was home. It was getting late, and I started to get very scared and hungry. I prayed and walked on. In about an hour, I found some berries, and that satisfied my hunger somewhat. I sat down again and started to cry. “God, You’ve got to get me out of here. It’s going to be dark soon, and I’m afraid.” I cried some more, and then through teary eyes, I looked up into the sky and saw an amazing sight.

A real angel! It was in white and was blowing a trumpet. I didn’t know if it was male or female and I didn’t see any wings either, but what I felt was peace. In my Spirit I heard, “It’s going to be okay, don’t worry.” At that moment, I knew which way to go, and I wasn’t afraid anymore. It was dusk when I looked down the hill, and about 100 feet away, I could see a lake. I was so thirsty by then; it was a really welcome sight. But what now?

It was getting too dark to go any further, and I didn’t want to go back up into the trees, so I decided to sleep where I was. The ground was rocky and kind of slanted, but I found what I thought was the best spot, curled up and slept.

When I woke in the morning, after pulling out tick bodies, I started around the lake. I only walked a few steps  and realized the shoreline twisted in and out a lot. I knew about lakes up in that area, so I knew if I walked around the lake, I would come to something I recognized and I could get home. But hen I spotted some fishermen coming down to the water, straight across from me. I yelled over to them, and they saw me. But how was I going to get to them?

I would have to swim across. I wrapped up my Bible in the jacket I was wearing and began to swim across the lake. It looked like a very long swim, but I was a good swimmer so I knew I’d make it. Although it was May and the water cold, I hardly noticed it. I was like a wet rat when I got out of the water and exhausted. The fisherman and his two sons kindly gave me a ride several miles back to my home.

In Genesis 24, God sent an angel ahead of Abraham’s servant to protect him and prosper him when he went to find a wife for Isaac. Abraham told the servant, “He [God] shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence” (v.7). Verse 40 says, “The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way.” The servant took ten camels laden with precious gifts, including jewels of silver and gold, clothing, and other costly things. Even with robbers along the way, the angel cleared the path, and the servant got there with all the camels and gifts protected.

Psalm 91:11 tells us this about angels: “For he [God] shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

When God begins a work in us, and we are willing to do it, this promise from Philippians 1:6 is a great one to take to heart: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” That is the day Jesus comes to get us.

Miraculously my Bible didn’t get wet with the swim across the lake; I had food and water, a ride home, and best of all, I had my very first vision of a real angel, who went before me and protected me on my way.

Sleeping on rocks was not fun. Having ticks embedded into my back, sucking my blood was not fun; being scared was not fun. But I was never alone. The Lord was with me the whole time and sent an angel to let me know it was true. The Lord led me to the edge of a lake, not only for a drink of water. By His providence, I woke up at the time when the Lord already knew there would be fishermen straight across from where I’d slept, kind people who encouraged me and gave me a ride home.

How many times have all of us been in a similar situation? Maybe not physically, but emotionally or otherwise: lost, attacked, something eating us that we couldn’t reach or eliminate? We’ve been in situations without answers, wandering, and not finding. We’ve been scared, not knowing if we’d be able to get out of whatever was binding us.  

Life as a Christian isn’t always going to be easy. We get attacked, disturbed, bummed out in rocky places, lost in the woods. But we can be assured that the Lord is always with us through all of it, and He will get us across the lakes and take us safely home. Jesus said: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20).

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Have you or anyone you know had an experience with an angel or angels, especially when in a scary situation? Describe the experience.

2. It was a miracle that my Bible didn’t get wet when I swam across the lake. Describe a miracle you or someone you know has experienced or witnessed.

3. What was the promise in Genesis 24 to Abraham’s servant regarding his journey? Cite the scriptures.

4. Are you aware of being on a journey? Cite a scripture besides the one in Genesis 24 that shows we can have angelic help in our life journeys.

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