HOPE AND VICTORY

     

 

 

 

    

 

 

HOPE AND VICTORY

This past week I was inspired to move my HOPE chime out to the end of my trellis. When I went to take a photo of it, I noticed that one of the sticks that the chimes are attached to is broken and ragged, like we all were before Jesus came into our lives, and the trellis formed a cross, like the cross Jesus bore for us so many years ago.

 

The trees are still blooming, the doves are still loving on each other and making babies, and we have the ultimate victory because of that cross and because God raised him. When Jesus was killed and put into the tomb, it looked like all was over. But to those who had hope in the scriptures of old and in the words Jesus spoke himself, after three long days of grief and fear, their dream came true, and their prayers were answered. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, thus defeating death for every person who believes.

 

Matthew 28:6 – “For he is risen, as he said.”

Mark 16:6 – “He is risen.”

Luke 24:6 – “He is not here, but is risen.”

John 21:14  - “This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.”

 

JESUS IS ALIVE NOW, AND WE WILL BE WITH HIM FOREVER.

 

Love, Carolyn

(the "victory" painting isn't done yet, but I thought it was a good one to represent Victory :-))

 

DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL - GOD IS FAITHFUL TO A HUMBLE HEART

DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL - GOD IS FAITHFUL TO A HUMBLE HEART

I remember the day when I discovered I was totally okay with my own failure. After three days of trying to make a piece of Masonite look like a piece of maple, I’d run out of ideas. I’d completed hundreds of wood samples that looked great, so I was shocked with myself when I realized I just could not do this one. I had to admit failure, and the result was surprisingly wonderful! In that moment, I was totally set free. I did fail, and I was actually happy for myself. Odd, yes, and yet this was a deliverance for me! I was very prideful growing up. Failure was never an option. I was good at almost anything I tried, and I avoided activities I couldn’t do well. No one really likes the idea of failing. But sometimes it can be a good thing – a lifesaver, actually.

 

Though I’d accepted Jesus as my Lord and confessed my sins, pride kept popping up in other categories. It’s funny how God can use the most mundane things in our lives to show us the most important spiritual things we will ever experience. This incident with the wood sample was one of those things.

 

Many of you have experienced similar awakenings. We go along in our regular life, no real “Las Vegas” moments to speak of, no bells and whistles, just plodding along, and all of a sudden, in the middle of doing something we normally do, God opens an amazing realization about a very big thing in our lives that we never expected.

 

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that if we are faithful to seek God and read His life manual, the Bible, He is faithful to us, to reward us with revelations, insights, and deliverances that we not only wanted but some we didn’t even know we wanted! A preacher once said: “God can make taking out the garbage the most exciting thing you’ve ever experienced.” I‘ve found this to be absolutely true.

 

The key on our part is to be faithful to Him. Jesus tells us a parable in Matthew 25 about a man going to a far country who gives his goods to his servants to take care of while he was away. 

 

“And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several [own] ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

 

“And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

 

“After a long time, the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

 

“And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.’ His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’

 

“He also that had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them’. His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’

 

“Then he which had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.’

 

“His lord answered and said unto him, ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant’” (Matt. 25:15-24).

 

The servant that received one talent was afraid of failure. He didn’t even try, didn’t risk anything, didn’t step out in faith to gain anything more. He buried what he had. He reminds me of Christians who stop reading the Bible, stop praying, stop exploring and questing after more of the Lord’s intimacy in their lives. They bury their desire for Him or get snared by fear that it might not work, or they may look foolish even trying.

 

In the above parable, the two servants who were faithful to do more with what they had, were the ones who were brave enough to step out. And look what the Lord told them: “Enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

 

As Christians, we are still human, and we are going to fail sometimes. But failure isn’t a crime. “As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one’” (Rom. 3:10).

 

We were failures when we came to Jesus the first time and admitted we weren’t very good at being our own Lord. Don’t be afraid of being a failure at something. It’s worth a try.

 

We must pick ourselves up when we fall and continue to seek the Lord’s guidance. Let’s be like David, who said to God: “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes” (Ps. 123:1).

 

Humility is a sweet smell to our God. And pride is a stinker. Shut it down by going back to the scriptures with a humble heart for truth.

 

God is faithful to us. “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations” (Deut. 7:9).

 

In the New Testament, the Lord promises: “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). And God keeps His promises.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

Other teachings and true-life stories I’ve written to help you live the Bible way:

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CULTURAL EXPLANATION OF THE JAEL AND SISERA STORY

Bishop KC Pillai was an expert on the culture and customs of the people of the Bible. My friend, Doug, sent me this write-up on the story of Jael and Sisera that I talked about on last Sunday’s preach letter. I think this will give everyone a deeper understanding of that record – well worth the reading!

 

Eastern Customs and Idioms of the Bible: Orientalisms

Bishop K.C Pillai

Jael Defends Her Honor

Judges 4:18-21

And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my Lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink: for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink; and covered him. Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? That thou shalt say, No. Then Jael, Herber’s wife, took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple. (Added for clarity, it was her tent.)

 There was a war at one time between the Israelites and the Canaanites in which the Israelites defeated the Canaanites. The captain of the army of the Canaanites was Sisera, and he ran when he saw defeat. He came to a tent where Jael lives and (1) she gave him refuge. He asked for water and (2) she gave him milk. (3) She also covered him with a mantle. These three actions of her were very significant. Jael belonged to a neutral party, so Sisera was sage there. In the tents, there is one part for men and one part for women, divided with a tarpaulin. Men could never enter the women’s side and vice versa. Only family could visit back and forth. Even military or lawmen could not go into a woman’s apartment. Sisera was a stranger to Jael, so why should she help him? It is believed that to give a man refuge who is running for his life is doing the word of God. Otherwise, it would have been against her culture to speak to the man.

She put him in the men’s side of the tent and covered him up with a mantle. A mantle is a three to four foot long cloth, folded in four parts and worn around the neck. The mantle represents authority, or protection, or when it is torn in two, it signifies an outward sign of inward grief or anger. Authority may be transferred by transferring the mantle from on to another. Jael invited Sisera in. Whenever a guest comes under the shadow of one’s roof, he is treated as if he were God or an angel. The host would rather die than allow any harm to come to the guest. He may be “no one” but when serving him, one is serving God. Receiving a guest is a religious thing and even the government would not interfere with it.

When Jael gave Sisera milk (buttermilk) in which there is salt, she took a covenant of salt with him, which is inviolable. She gave him three assurances of protection: (1) invited him in, (2) covered him with a mantle, and (3) took the covenant of salt with him. Being an Eastern man, he should have understood the significance of these three things. He then asked her to tell a lie. In their philosophy is an unwritten law: one can tell a lie to save someone’s life, but one can never tell a lie to profit or save one’s self.

She was offering to Sisera God’s assurance for protection. She would lay down her life for him (indicated by her standing in the doorway for him), rather then betray him. Later on, she comes inside from standing in the doorway and found him fast asleep. Sisera had three assurances, but he snuck into the women’s apartment. He did not stay where he was put. Any man can come into a man’s side of the tent. So Sisera began thinking, “maybe they will chase her away and come into the tent—although she means well, she could not defend me if men walked in. But if I get into a woman’s tent, no men, no power, no army can come in. I will be safer here.” So his unbelief in the three “securities” or assurances, led him into her apartment of the tent. His unbelief killed him. The woman found him in her apartment and carried out her part of the contract. She took a nail of the tent and drove this nail through his temple and he died. Why? 

If a person makes the covenant of salt with another person and one of the two breaks this covenant, the punishment is death. The reason that she drove a nail through his head was because he moved over into her side of the tent (verse 22). He broke the covenant of salt by doubting her protection, so he deserved only death. She was dealing with his unbelief by driving tent nail through his head. She had no animosity, she was not his enemy. She covered him with the mantle, exchanged the covenant of salt and she called him inside.

Because we do not trust in God, we try to make our own securities. Because of our unbelief, we forsake the sufficiency give to us in God. We do not believe because we do not understand. Knowing God is different from knowing about God. We must understand our security, freedom, heritage and rejoice in God for the rest of our lives.”

 

 

HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD - BE BRAVE

HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD – BE BRAVE

My mom was a faithful woman when it came to the Bible. At 89 years old she was once again reading through the whole Bible. When I came to visit, she was on Judges 5 and we read it together and talked about the great lesson it teaches. It’s the story of a woman named Jael, a story of bravery and the courage to do the right thing. Judges 5 is a song sung by the prophet Deborah concerning the overthrow of Israel’s enemies. In verse 2 she sings: “Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.” The Lord was able to work in them to bring peace to themselves for many years because of Jael bravely yielding to the will of God.

 

The people were being oppressed. Verses 6-8 tell us:

 

“In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel. . . . They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?” The answer is no.

 

The land was full of anarchy and confusion, everywhere infested with bandits. No public road was safe; and in going from place to place, the people had to take unfrequented paths. Village life ceased. Not only was life hard under the oppressors, but they also confiscated all weapons, so the Israelites could not fight. By spiritual analogy, we can say that Satan not only wants to oppress the Christian; he also wants to disarm us as well and make us feel small and unable to do anything to change any situation.

 

Sisera was an enemy leader who fought against God’s people. We are told in Judges 4 that “Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred of iron, and all the people that were with him” (v.13). But “the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet” (v.15).

 

Sisera had spiritual help from the devil and he was getting away. But God had a plan and He had someone who was bold enough and brave enough to take care of the final problem, Jael. She was a simple married woman, one of the ones who “willingly offered themselves” to do the Lord’s bidding. Sisera came to this married couple’s tent and expected to be treated well. Sisera’s king was friendly to the clan of Jael’s husband so Sisera thought he was perfectly safe in the presence of Jael and her husband. He was not! When it comes to loyalty to God versus loyalty to family friends, God is always going to win for committed people like Jael.

 

“Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.  And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.  And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him” (Judges 4:17-19).

 

Jael was not going to let this enemy go. She knew what she had to do. She made him comfortable, gave him the favorite drink of the culture, curdled milk instead of just plain water, and she had his confidence. He lay down to rest after pursuing and killing God’s people, totally unaware of what was about to happen. As he slept, “Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died” (Judges 4:21).

 

Deborah in her song puts it this way (Judges 5:26): “She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.”

 

This is where we get the phrase, “You hit the nail right on the head!” In other words, you got it totally accurate and final.

 

What bravery and confidence to believe that she had the means and the right to carry out this act to deliver God’s people from their oppression. Deborah ends her song with this: “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years” (Judges 5:31).

 

My mom and I read this together and talked about bravery and truth. Every time I read God’s Word, the Lord teaches me more about trusting Him and being willing to fight for the freedom and peace of His people. I love the Word of God and I sure loved my mom for being a faithful and brave woman too.

 

We may not always hit the nail on the head, but we stay faithful and brave, doing our part to follow Jesus, confronting our own spiritual battles, and standing up for our families, our friends, our nations, and God’s people around the world.

 

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

 

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

 

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 

“As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:31-38).

 

Love, Carolyn

 

 

A LONG AND SATIFYING LIFE

A LONG AND SATISFYING LIFE

My friend was in surgery and was starting to come out of the anesthesia when she hit a distinct point of decision. She saw the male nurse walk across the room calling her name. At that moment she knew that she had the choice to wake up or just let go. Then she said to herself, “I’m not done yet. God has more for me to do.” And she made herself wake up. In Psalm 91:16 God promises: “With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.

 

The word “satisfy” in this verse comes from a Hebrew word meaning to be fulfilled, to have plenty, to be enriched. Who doesn’t want that, right? 

 

Where it says God will show us His “salvation”, that comes from a Hebrew word which means His victory, His prosperity, His saving, health, and welfare. God’s welfare plan is way better than any government plan. The older we get the greater opportunities to experience more and more of God’s magnificence: more revelation, more wisdom, more understanding.

 

As we age and continue to faithfully seek the Lord, there are different levels of glory to experience. Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

 

“Glory” in this verse means “splendor, brightness and excellence.” Wow, what awesomeness to look forward to! More splendor to see in the physical world God created, splendor in relationships, accomplishments, ideas and so much more. What about the promise of being able to be brighter?: Mentally? Emotionally? Physically?

 

Glory also means to be more excellent. I think about the Biblical word “dunamis,” used in the New Testament, which means excellence in our soul life, i.e. better decisions more of the time, good moral values, controlling our emotions without even trying, living a more Christ-like life. The word, dynamite, comes from this word dunamis!

 

The word glory also means dignity and honor. As we change from glory to glory, we become more honorable and our self-view becomes more and more as the Lord sees us, rather than how we may see ourselves at this point.

 

Glory also means grace.

 

It’s interesting that glory also means opinion, judgment, and view. That changes too. Our opinions start to change to God’s opinions. We judge not according to politics or peers but more in line with the Lord’s judgments or lack thereof. Also, our view of things starts to switch from old views to new ones as the Lord leads us to another level of glory.

 

And, of course, glory also means kingly majesty and the personal excellence of Christ. Honestly, who doesn’t need lots of years to develop into the Christ-like person we desire to be, a majority of the time, not just sporadically, or when we try really hard?

 

I want to live a long life so I can experience all I possibly can of God’s glory to glory here on earth, like He says we can.

 

People in certain church groups have been taught that 70 or 80 years would be considered a good long life and they base it on Psalm 90:10, which says: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” But if you’ll notice, this Psalm was written by Moses. It was regarding the Israelites who disobeyed God and their lives were cut short in the wilderness. Since people in our times have believed this was concerning them, they’ve missed out on so much wisdom and great insight that comes with the ages beyond 70 to 80.

 

Genesis 6:3 tells us God’s will for mankind’s lifespan on earth after the flood: “Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.”

 

God wants us to be satisfied with a long healthy life, so we don’t have to give up if at 70 or 80 we’re not fully satisfied yet. According to Genesis 6:3 we can certainly live longer, until we’re totally satisfied.

 

I want to reveal an amazing truth about death that many people don’t know. It’s such a great comfort and will get rid of any fears we may have about dying.

 

Hebrews 2:9 says Jesus tasted death for every man: “But we see Jesus, who, ... by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” The word “taste” is translated from the Greek word which means “feel, experience.” Since Jesus went through the physical experience of death for us, and felt it in our place, we don’t have to. We don't have to feel or experience a horrible or scary death, but our failsafe is that we must train our brains AHEAD OF TIME to truly believe what Hebrews 2:9 says. In God's eyes, death is to be only a transition. Suddenly we will just be changed. Our next waking moment we will be in heaven with Him and go on with our spiritual life there.

 

My friend has had three distinct near-death experiences and in each, she never had any five senses feelings of death. It was always just a decision to live or die, and not based on any five senses horrible feeling of death. This is documented in the Word of God. For the believer, death is only a passing from this earthly realm to a heavenly realm. What a comfort and what a blessing to know that for us there is absolutely nothing to fear in death! Amazing and wonderful.

 

But while we’re here on earth, let’s believe to be Psalm 91:16 people, living a long wonderfully satisfying life, changing from glory to glory until we are as fully satisfied and ready to go see our Lord face to face in heaven.

 

Love, Carolyn

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